Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Off-grid Communities: Energy Prices

Tuesday 4 February 2025 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Minister for Consumers is working to support homeowners with difficult to heat properties due to older building materials and lack of insulation.
  • The Department for Work and Pensions may have a database of pensioners facing energy cost decisions in cold areas.
  • Government is coordinating information across departments to identify and support those in need.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Charlotte Cane Lib Dem Ely and East Cambridgeshire
Housing Energy Environment
Context

Charlotte Cane raises concerns about constituents who are both off-grid and living in homes with non-standard materials, such as clunch or wattle and daub, which can be difficult to insulate.

Question

Many of my constituents, as well as being off grid, have homes built of non-standard materials—clunch or wattle and daub—and those homes are also often listed. What support will the Minister provide to my constituents who are looking to retrofit their homes to move away from oil and improve insulation?

Answer from The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Michael Shanks)

The hon. Lady is right that, particularly in rural areas, certain house types are often much more difficult to heat due to much older building materials and a lack of insulation. The Minister for Consumers, my hon. Friend the Member for Peckham (Miatta Fahnbulleh), is working to make sure our warm homes plan can reach all communities and all types of households, and I encourage the hon. Member for Ely and East Cambridgeshire (Charlotte Cane) to feed in any ideas for how we can do that for these rural and off-grid households.

Partly answered

Not addressed: No specific support or funding details were provided for retrofits in non-standard material homes.

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Q2 Jamie Stone Lib Dem Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Energy Benefits & Welfare
Context

Jamie Stone highlights the extreme winter conditions in Altnaharra, his constituency, where pensioners face difficult choices between heating their homes or falling into debt.

Question

Every winter, Altnaharra in my constituency is the coldest place in the UK. I can think of lots of pensioners who are faced with the invidious decision of whether to switch off and shiver or to run into debt. It occurs to me that the Department for Work and Pensions may well have a database of these people, so will His Majesty’s Government get the DWP to work with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to identify them and give a helping hand?

Answer from The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Michael Shanks)

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that helpful point. Where we can co-ordinate information and data across Government to identify people who need more support, we will do so. My Department is currently working with the Department for Work and Pensions to release as much of that information as possible, and we hope that we will be able to make progress in due course.

Partly answered

Not addressed: No specific timeline or concrete commitment was provided regarding coordination between departments.

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