MPs on the Select Committee on Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have written to BEIS Secretary of State Kwasi Kwarteng with concerns over whether the upcoming Spring Statement will address the energy crisis and give some relief to business and energy customers.
The letter warns that the Chancellor’s plan to help customers with “will now be out of date when the price cap next rises in October”. It asks the secretary of state whether BEIS asked for more support for bill payers and asked “What is your Department’s assessment of the knock-on impact to the long-term funding of the energy system if consumers can no longer afford to pay their energy bills?”
It said that reducing energy demand was crucial to maintaining energy security as well as managing costs. It pressed the department on its failure to incentivise energy efficiency upgrades and complained that the target for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme was too low.
Of particular concern to MPs was the government’s own strategy in managing the biggest failed energy supplier, Bulb. It asked why ministers had not permitted administrators to hedge supply. It said, “This has resulted in a much larger cost exposure to the taxpayer. Please can you confirm whether this decision was taken by BEIS or Treasury Ministers and explain if the advice of administrators with experience of running energy companies was rejected?”
MPs asked whether any changes be made to the Special Administration Regime will be made if other companies fail in the future and have customer numbers too large to transfer to another supplier.

See the letter