Written evidence to be reported to the House
Energy Bill
12:00 pm
Alistair Buchanan: I am happy to start the answer to that question.
A few weeks ago in Parliament, Paddy Tipping hosted a meeting on smart metering. The reason I start by referring to that meeting is that I might have been unhappy at the lack of smart metering in the Bill had I not gone to that meeting. At the meeting, the director general of energy at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform made it quite clear that the Government will make a statement on smart metering in the near future. Therefore, I am excited by the fact that a statement will be made on smart metering at some stage in the near future.
Ofgem has an open position on this issue. We favour the introduction of smart metering. There are two models that have been put on the table; what is called the franchise model, and the market mandate model. We favour the market mandate model, but we are particularly keen to see a decision made on this issue. Clearly, to an extent the decision and the timing of the decision might be confused by the two-year pilot scheme that Ofgem is currently running, but I was very encouraged by the announcement at that meeting.
To answer your switching question, and I am sure that Allan has even more up-to-date data than I have, you are absolutely right; around that central figure, there is a range of very interesting issues. One such issue is that, on gas pre-payment meters, the level is down at about 36 per cent. We must think about how we address that.
In terms of vulnerable and fuel-poor people, you get quite an interesting range around that figure. On the latest data that I looked at before coming out here this afternoon, single mothers with dependent children are switching above that level, whereas elderly people are switching below that level. So, it is difficult to make generalisations once you start to break the data down to see which part of the vulnerable customer group does not appear to be taking advantage of this opportunity. We have to look at the breakdown of that data and see how we can access those people who are not doing so.