1. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of Ofgem's new price cap on residents in Wales? TQ732

Thank you, Jack Sargeant. Welsh householders will not be directly impacted by the price cap due to the energy price guarantee currently set at £2,500. However, we are deeply concerned by the potential impact of the UK Government's energy price guarantee rise to £3,000 in April on Welsh households if wider UK Government support does not continue.

Can I thank the Minister for that answer? Despite the fall in the energy price cap, I share your concerns about energy bills and the fact that they are on course to rise by £500 in April. Martin Lewis himself described the rise, and I quote, as an

'act of national mental health harm'.

Ofgem, of course, have announced the market review into the behaviour of suppliers, but, acting Presiding Officer, I will place on record today that I do not have confidence in that review. Ofgem have spent months ignoring overwhelming evidence that suppliers are forcing vulnerable people onto prepayment meters.

A survey my office has carried out reveals examples of how extreme that problem is. One anonymous respondent detailed how they need constant access to electricity due to medical devices, yet they are on a prepayment meter. Another was a veteran who sustained injuries serving his country and now suffers with PTSD and was forcibly switched onto a prepay meter by these energy suppliers. A third, Presiding Officer, had a fault with their prepayment meter. When they phoned their energy supplier they were placed on hold for over an hour. When they finally got to ask an adviser what was happening, they explained that their six-year-old son was obviously very upset, they explained that they were sat in the dark, and the adviser on the other end of the phone for the energy supplier laughed. I'm going to be clear in this Chamber now that these are not laughing matters—these are people's lives, and this is a life-and-death situation.

Minister, these are vulnerable people, vulnerable people who should not be on prepayment meters in the first place. Can I ask you, Minister, for your view on Ofgem's review into energy suppliers' behaviour? Can I also ask you to meet with me to discuss further the findings of my survey, to send that consistent message to the UK Government that they must tackle the inequalities that this scandal has caused?

Thank you very much, Jack Sargeant. Thank you for raising this topical question and for consistently raising these issues over the past months and indeed years in terms of the plight of people in fuel poverty, forced now, more recently, onto prepayment meters without permission—shocking behaviour by suppliers. I just want to say that I will meet with you. I want to meet with you to hear more about your survey. I will share that survey, and I will raise these issues with Ofgem. I met Ofgem yesterday and I met the Ofgem board in February. 

I also recognise that, when people like Martin Lewis describe it in this way, the possible rise—. I've been calling all afternoon, haven't I, for the UK Government not to make that £500 rise. I call on them again not to make that £500 rise in terms of the energy price guarantee. I pressed Ofgem when I met them yesterday about the most vulnerable households. These are the ones that are on prepayment meters and those who've been forced onto prepayment meters. I pressed them about their regulatory powers—were they strong enough, are they using them. 

As far as the review is concerned into British Gas, which I asked them specifically about, they told me that they have an independent auditor looking at the issuing of warrants for prepayment meters, and also the remote switching, of course, which is happening, of customers onto smart prepayment meters. I asked them about other suppliers: 'You should be able to tell from court warrants—are there other suppliers?' They told me they were undertaking a review of 15 other suppliers to ensure their compliance with the regulations. I will, obviously, go back to them in terms of getting the outcome of these reviews.

Also, I made the point yesterday when I met them that they had what they called a voluntary ban agreed to stop the imposition of warrants for forced installation of prepayment meters till the end of March. I said that this has got to be extended. I called for it to be extended until the outcome of their investigations into British Gas and those other 15 suppliers. I called for it to be extended for as long as necessary.

Thank you, again, for raising these issues. Of course, I raised a number of other points when I met them yesterday. I called for action and moving forward on the social tariff, but also, again, going back to this point: 'If you haven't got the powers, we want to know.' We will support extension of powers, particularly around the issues about protection from disconnection, which, of course, in law you can't do in the water industry.

The Llywydd took the Chair.

The question tabled is about Ofgem's price cap, and although it's good news that the energy regulator, Ofgem, announced that its price cap will fall by almost £1,000 from April due to a fall in wholesale prices, the UK Government energy price guarantee is set to increase, as you indicated, from £2,500 to £3,000 a year from the same month. National Energy Action estimates that 1.5 million UK households would fall into fuel poverty as a result. Households in Wales will be particularly hard hit, given that Wales has the lowest prosperity per head, lowest wages, lowest employment and highest child poverty in the UK, dare I say, after 24 years of Labour Welsh Government. However, UK energy Minister Grant Shapps said yesterday:

'I completely recognise the argument over keeping that price guarantee in place, and the Chancellor and I are working very hard on it. I’m very sympathetic to making sure that we protect people.'We’re looking at this very, very carefully.'

I know in your answers earlier today you alluded to that statement yourself. In that context, what constructive engagement are you therefore having with the UK Government accordingly?

Thank you, Mark Isherwood. I think from what you're saying you are also sympathetic to this call that the UK Government should not increase the guarantee to £3,000. Yesterday, Grant Shapps, the UK Government's energy security Secretary, said that he was sympathetic to calls for cancelling the rise. Of course, sympathy isn't enough. He and the Chancellor must now act to protect the most vulnerable in Wales and across the UK.

I would say also that today myself and my colleagues Julie James and Vaughan Gething have written to Grant Shapps on a range of issues, including, I have to say, non-domestic provision, as well as domestic provision, funding needs, longer term transition relating to all our portfolio responsibilities. But I think we have got to recognise that this is a time when we can unite across this Chamber to say that we call on the UK Government not to make this rise to £3,000. They can afford it, and let's see some action now.

Minister, we on the Equality and Social Justice Committee have heard very serious evidence about the depths of debt in Wales and that energy costs are fundamental to that. I've raised with you in the past the lack of progress in terms of delivering on the fuel poverty targets of the Welsh Government. The target was 5 per cent of Welsh households living in fuel poverty by 2035, but 45 per cent are now living in fuel poverty. Whilst wholesale prices are starting to fall, household bills will increase from April if the Government in Westminster proceeds with this increase in the energy price guarantee, and bills will still be significantly higher than they have been historically. Minister, do you agree, therefore, that we need to accelerate improving home energy efficiency through the Warm Homes programme? Because it's unclear from what we've heard from you and the Minister for Climate Change whether the new demand-led programme will be operational before the end of the year. Can you give us a clear answer on this today?

Thank you very much. I was very pleased that this was subject to scrutiny and inquiry on Monday by the Equality and Social Justice Committee. Can I again just confirm that there will be no gap in terms of the transition from one to another in terms of the Warm Homes programme? And can I also thank you for your support for the calls that we've been making, and I know that you have supported them as well, in terms of recognising the adverse impact of the energy price guarantee increasing from £2,500 to £3,000?

I do just want to comment on your point about the Warm Homes programme, because again, as I said earlier on today, the Warm Homes programme includes the demand-led Nest scheme. That'll continue until September of this year. The area-based Arbed scheme ended, of course, as you know, in November 2021, but Welsh Government funding in 2022-23 has been increased by £3 million to £30 million. The consultation concluded with the Warm Homes programme, and it is now moving forward. And of course, the Minister for Climate Change, who is responsible for this as the lead Minister, made that statement on 8 November about how we're going to approach the challenges or opportunities to respond, in terms of the climate emergency, but how it affects all housing tenures. So, I reassure you in terms of the way forward for the Warm Homes programme, and also assure you in terms of the funding that's being made available next year.

I just want to remind us all that every single household with a pay-as-you-go meter has already received £400 via the UK Government into the account that they hold with the energy companies, whilst it’s a very much smaller proportion of the generally much more vulnerable households on prepayment meters who’ve received either the UK Government’s or the Welsh Government’s voucher towards their heating costs. In your discussions with Ofgem, can you ask why the energy companies, who all know exactly where all these prepayment customers are and many of whom are making a killing from the spike in gas prices, cannot be made responsible for getting customers on prepayment meters the support for even their more expensive energy costs, rather than leaving it to the vagaries of the postal service, the mobility challenges and the mental health needs of our most vulnerable citizens? This is absolutely unacceptable, and Ofgem need to step up to the plate or be replaced.

Thank you very much, Jenny Rathbone. On that question, I’ve met with energy suppliers on a number of occasions, as you know. I’ve raised this issue about ways in which they need to reach out to ensure those vouchers do reach those on PPMs. I mean, everybody else got their £400, and those who are most vulnerable were not getting their £400. I got assurances that they were going to be reissued, that they’re trying every other means—if it’s not post or delivery, it's certainly digital contact, if that hasn’t been successful. I asked for the latest uptake in terms of reach of that payment; I was told by the UK Government it was now 71 per cent, but what about that 29 per cent who haven’t got it? I’ve called for them to be reissued until they get a better uptake. It’s a lifeline for vulnerable households at a time when, of course, they are the most vulnerable on PPMs.

I thank the Minister. The next question is to be answered by the Minister for Health and Social Services and to be asked by Adam Price.