Speeches by Billington.

“On Dr Roy’s point about the Financial Ombudsman Service being on a statutory footing, and yet you do not always get a result, what does that say to you about the value of a statutory footing?”

“Katie, do you believe the remedial actions and financial awards available to the Energy Ombudsman are enough to drive up standards and give consumers the compensation they deserve?”

“To follow up on that, do you still have human beings in your call centres or is this all being done by chatbots?”

“How many of the complaints or concerns are managed by chatbots versus human beings?”

“They do get triaged by bots though, don’t they?”

“Given that standard credit customers are considered more likely to go into debt and struggle to afford their energy bills, why are they made to pay more under the energy price cap compared with people on other payment methods?”

“Is Ofgem planning to level out costs across all payment methods?”

“Why is Ofgem proposing a one-off rather than a permanent energy debt relief scheme? Will support be made automatically or will it rely on consumers applying?”

“Following up on dealing with the debt-related costs, you have been considering redistributing those costs between consumers—standard credit and direct debit—and your analysis suggests that that would mean a £200 million benefit for low-income consumers. Why was that work paused and are you considering resuming it?”

“You won’t be surprised by me asking you this. Do you agree that allowing more consumers in energy debt to switch to a cheaper tariff would help them better manage their finances while supporting the adoption of lower carbon heating options—combining those two things together?”

“I will follow up on that, therefore, and ask where your current thinking is—we have asked you this before, but it is important to regularly check in—and where your conversations with Government are on an energy social tariff.”

“This is on network and policy costs. We have heard that consumers who switch to electrified heating are required to keep their gas meter and continue paying the gas standing charge until they clear their energy debt. Do you agree that this presents a barrier to decarbonising homes and do you plan to change this?”

“Citizens Advice has warned that your proposal for a mandatory zero or low standing charge option—as you would have heard earlier—would have only small benefits for consumers while risking unfair outcomes. How do you respond to this assessment and how will you ensure that consumers can understand whether new tariffs wil…”

“Do you think there is any merit in scaling network and policy costs in people’s bills based on their income levels?”

“Exit fees are about £2,000, which is quite a lot of money, particularly if you want to do this at scale. Otherwise you are leaving it for the people who will do it because it makes them feel good about themselves.”

“Thank you. Is it cheaper for energy suppliers to pay the compensation required by the Energy Ombudsman than to invest in proper customer service?”

“It is important for my hon. Friend to be able to explain in detail what the philosophical and institutional implications are. But, fundamentally for ordinary patients, what does she think the Bill will do to change the relationship between the patient and the doctor?”

“I am interested in what the hon. Lady says about the safety of those drugs. Does any adverse event data exist globally to quantify how much harm and suffering could be caused while inducing the dying process?”

“Will my hon. Friend give way?”

“I think we all agree that it is important for us to protect all consumers from the volatile oil and gas prices that my hon. Friend has mentioned. However, while we shift and undertake that reform, has the Minister considered the benefits of having an energy social tariff, to protect customers now from those volatile oi…”