The House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee is seeking clarification from the Government on its intentions to amend the Digital Economy Act 2017 to extend data sharing beyond current arrangements and help with the identification of vulnerable energy customers.
Rachel Reeves, MP Chair of the Committee has written to Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy asking him to provide information to the Committee by 30 November on the following:
whether the Government intending to take Ofgem's advice on changes to the Digital Economy Act and if so, when will these changes be made
alternatively, is the Government intending to reform the Warm Home Discount so that more people identified by Ofgem and charities as vulnerable are guaranteed access to it on an unconditional basis
Writing to the Committee on 1st November 2017, Ofgem said that in their submission to the consultation they recommended that the Government amend the Digital Economy Act to allow data-sharing with energy suppliers if it is in connection with fuel poverty protections.
Ofgem has expressed the concern on many occasions that current restrictions on data-sharing limit both their and suppliers' efforts to correctly identify and support all vulnerable energy customers.
Under the current arrangements, Ofgem would also struggle to extend their safeguard tariffs to a further two million vulnerable households for next winter because of the difficulty in identifying households not covered by the Warm Home Discount.
Organisations such as National Energy Action, Scope, and Money and Mental Health have also argued that the Warm Home Discount should be reformed and that an end be put to the "first come, first served" allocation rule for the Warm Home Discount's Broader Group.
The charities say that disabled and low-income households have higher energy bills due to their health conditions or barriers to switching which puts them at a significantly higher risk of being in fuel poverty. As a result, the organisations are asking that these customers be guaranteed access to support from the Warm Home Discount on an unconditional basis.
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