Pre-Payment Meters (Self-Disconnection) Bill: Second Reading – Anne McLaughlin.
Levelling Up Fund round 2 bidding process – Anne McLaughlin.
Anne McLaughlin: It should never have got this far. We should never have ended up in a situation in which we are now talking about compensating people for something that should never have been allowed to happen to them in the first place. Nor would it have happened if the Government had listened to the many voices who have been telling them this for months. Since I first wrote to the Secretary of State in...
Anne McLaughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what data his Department holds on the average timescales energy consumers wait for the repayment of debt owed to them by failed energy suppliers, in particular when payments have been made to energy suppliers through standing orders.
Anne McLaughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether energy firms are required to carry out equality impact assessments before forcibly installing prepayment meters.
Anne McLaughlin: This morning, just two hours ago, I launched the all-party parliamentary group on prepayment meters. I did so because most people on those meters are on very low incomes, yet they pay more per unit of energy than the Prime Minister, they pay higher daily standing charges than the Prime Minister, and they are automatically disconnected from their energy supply the second they run out of money....
Anne McLaughlin: The usual laws of commerce and capitalism are that buy first, pay later costs more and that those who can pay in advance will get a discount. The direct opposite is true for people on prepayment meters. Nearly 67,000 people in Glasgow alone are paying more than I am for their gas and electricity, and in daily standing charges. I object to that because I and other people on higher incomes...
Anne McLaughlin: Next week I am launching the all-party parliamentary group on prepayment meters, and one of the first things we were looking at is so-called self-disconnection. Given that I wrote to the Secretary of State in September expressing my concerns about this issue and have received zero response; given that the Government have twice tried to block my Pre-Payment Meters (Self-Disconnection) Bill,...
Anne McLaughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Eltham of 17 January, Official Report column 161 when he plans to send a letter to Ofgem on forcible installations of prepayment energy meters.
Anne McLaughlin: People on pre-payment meters live in precarious situations. They can only have gas and electricity if they have money to feed the meter, otherwise they must freeze in the dark, yet the energy companies are forcing the poorest among us on to money guzzling pre-payment meters with the assistance of the courts, which are rubber-stamping warrants at an alarming rate. One court in the north of...
Anne McLaughlin: The Prime Minister earns a much higher than average salary, and is already one of the wealthiest men in the UK. He cannot and does not argue that he is too poor to pay his energy bills, so if he stopped paying them it would be for no good reason. Although his energy company might eventually disconnect his supply, it would phone him, send him reminder letters, and offer him debt counselling....
Anne McLaughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he will respond to the correspondence of 14 November 2022 from the hon. Member for Glasgow North East.
Anne McLaughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether specific financial support for people in off gas grid homes will be available in 2023/24.
Anne McLaughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether additional support payments for those living off gas grid will be available to those (a) on Economy 7 tariffs and (b) using electric only heating systems.
Anne McLaughlin: I thank everybody who participated in the debate and who signed the application. I also thank my team—it was my office manager, Margaret Young, who first brought this issue to my attention. I do not think she realised how much it was going spiral. I want to thank all my team, most of whom are sitting in the Gallery today: Michael Bannister, Robyn Hendry, Ruairi Kelly, Kilian Riley, Niamh...
Anne McLaughlin: The Minister seems to be arguing that if the energy companies have to take people to court, it will cost those people more than having their prepayment meters cut off. The point is that they will not be taken to court immediately. Someone like me can wait for a year while the energy company is trying to work out some plan. Energy companies are more likely to work with the person concerned to...
Anne McLaughlin: I thank the hon. Member for his kind words. I should probably clarify that I was always brought up to believe that if someone thinks and acts positively, they will get positive results. I also think, when I am asking for something as important as this, that it is probably best not to start off by being hyper-critical. I will wait to see what the Minister says and I might change my view, but I...
Anne McLaughlin: May I ask, for the purpose of clarification, whether Labour supports at least a moratorium on so-called self-disconnection, so that no one with a prepayment meter can be disconnected, at least over this winter?
Anne McLaughlin: My hon. Friend directed me to the story of the couple he mentioned. One of the most moving things to read was that, on top of needing to keep everything warm, all Mel wants to do is provide memories for her little boy—positive, happy family memories. She said that she cannot even begin to do that because she is too busy trying to keep on top of the energy bills. Does my hon. Friend agree...