Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:11 pm on 22 March 2023.
I'm grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I firstly thank the Minister, Jane Hutt, for her dedication on this matter, and the dedication of the Counsel General for the Welsh Government as well? You've both grasped the seriousness and have understood the seriousness of the situation we have in front of us from the very start. Your response today emphasises that, and your letter to Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State, on 14 March emphasises that again.
I'm going to try to quickly go through some of the contributions before reflecting on one final point. Thank you, Mark Isherwood, because I didn't know where the Welsh Conservatives stood, really, until today on this. I do thank him for his contribution today and for the confirmation of the support of the Welsh Conservatives on this motion. The contributions and support from Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and my backbench colleagues here, and of course the Minister, prove that this is bigger than politics, it's bigger than party politics; this is a life-and-death situation in front of us. And that's why, Mike Hedges, I will never get bored of you continuously, tirelessly working to bring it up, calling out injustice where you see it and standing up for the most vulnerable people in society. Mike Hedges, I will never get bored of you standing up for those people and calling out those standing charges; rightly so.
Jane Dodds referenced the incredible profits of suppliers and the stark difference and the stark contrast for those people who have no money to top up their prepayment meters. We heard from Sioned Williams and Heledd Fychan the realities of having no energy, the need for compensation, the commitment from the Welsh Government to procure that Warm Homes programme, as Jenny Rathbone and others, too, referenced. Rhianon, you are absolutely right; the scale of the programme, the sheer scale of the programme, deserves a response from the UK Government. I will finish, Dirprwy Lywydd, by just reflecting on some final remarks, setting out for you, as Peredur Owen Griffiths said, how rigged the market is.
Let me just explain to you how broken the system is. In that same meeting, the same meeting with Ofgem where they told me that there is no problem and there's no evidence to suggest any wrongdoing—apart from in British Gas because they were caught on camera—I told them a little story and asked them what I should say to my resident who was in my local surgery, in tears in front of me because they had been forcibly switched over to a prepayment meter. We've all had stories similar to that. We've heard them from all benches today. Ofgem told me that they should complain. Well, you know, we all know, I know, they know that the complaints process is ridiculous. You must write to your supplier with your complaint, you must give them eight weeks to respond, and then you might get a response back, but probably not one that's worth while. You then have to take it to the energy ombudsman, with no defined period for resolution. How ridiculous is that? That's why Ofgem is not fit for purpose. How can the regulator only have this to say to a vulnerable person who has been incorrectly and forcibly switched and, that very day, is at risk of going without heat and light? I'm pleased that the Minister responded with the rolling out of the energy service. It's the best advice we can offer to people that will stop people reaching crisis point.
Llywydd, I will end now on this one final comment. We are here in the Senedd, but this is much bigger than the Senedd; this is life and death—one thing's for certain. And it's good to see all political parties in Wales here today and the Welsh Government supporting this motion, because there's one thing that we can not do for sure: we cannot let this national scandal continue. Diolch yn fawr iawn.