7. How does the Welsh Government support South Wales Central residents who are facing fuel poverty? OQ59172

Diolch yn fawr, Heledd. The Welsh Government’s current £420 million package of support includes the Warm Homes programme, which improves the energy efficiency of lower income households. Eligible low-income households are also benefiting from our £200 Welsh Government fuel support scheme and our Fuel Bank Foundation vouchers for those experiencing fuel crisis.

Thank you, Minister. Evidently, you've already referred in your response to Peredur Owen Griffiths to this issue, and you've outlined in your answer to me a number of things that are being done. But the truth is, of course, that this does not go far enough, and that there are individuals and families in my region, and throughout Wales, who cannot afford to heat their homes. As research from Citizens Advice has shown, 32 per cent of people who use prepayment meters have chosen to be disconnected, with 29 per cent using a blanket or personal heater instead of heating their homes. Others continue to go into debt, and face severe financial hardship just in order to heat their homes. So, with prices increasing again in April, what practical support will be available from the Welsh Government to residents in South Wales Central, and what discussions is the Welsh Government having with the UK Government regarding this issue? You referred earlier to the meetings with Ofgem, but what were the outcomes of those discussions?

Diolch yn fawr, Heledd Fychan. I think it is important to recognise that we are facing—. For people in fuel poverty, from 1 April, they're facing incredibly difficult and uncertain times, but these are people who are already in fuel poverty.

I do want to just address some of the issues about my meeting my Ofgem, but I do also just want to say, in terms of what we're doing, as you request, I think it is important to go back, perhaps, to earlier questions that were raised this afternoon—that in terms of improving home energy efficiency, that's crucial; that's one part of the work that we're doing through the Warm Homes programme. And, actually, up until the end of March of last year, £420 million had been invested to improve home energy efficiency, and also £38 million to support our winter fuel support scheme up until last year. Then, of course, we've had our latest winter fuel support scheme payment of £200, which has reached so many people. Actually, for your region, a total of 74,254 households in South Wales Central have received support.

I also want to say that we have the Fuel Bank Foundation partnership now delivering the fuel voucher scheme, and that's also providing crisis help to households. As far as I understand, the issue that I hope we will unite across the Chamber on, which we really need to address now, is to get the UK Government to recognise that they should not increase the energy price guarantee from £2,500 to £3,000 in April. They've got the money to do it, we know that. We know what the economy and the public finances are like. They should not do this. This would have a huge impact. And I pressed Ofgem when I met with them yesterday; I asked what are they doing about the most vulnerable households, and have they got the powers to review energy suppliers' practices, particularly in terms of the shameful way that pre-payment meters have been put into people's houses. So, I think we need to do what we can with our initiatives and our funding, even though we've had a very poor settlement from the UK Government, but we also need to all call today on the UK Government to protect households in this one way particularly, in terms of not increasing the EPG from £2,500 to £3,000 in April.