20:12 Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)

When I contacted the office of the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on this issue in early December, I was told that it did not believe that there was a problem and that it did not intend to do anything about it. This contrasts sharply with the experience of my constituents. Mr Kimber, who contacted me on 6 December, told me that the price of heating oil back in early October was 44p a litre. He said:

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20:25 The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Charles Hendry)

The OFT proposes that the study should cover the whole of the UK, and has suggested a number of themes including the following: how well competition provides choice for consumers at a local and regional level, in respect of which the monopolistic issues to which the hon. Lady referred are clearly relevant; whether the terms and conditions of supply provide consumers with clear information, competitive prices and fair terms and conditions, which should include addressing the issues the hon. Lady raised in relation to websites which the public would assume are independent; and the experience of customers. The OFT proposes to survey the views of off-grid energy users around the UK. In addition to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and trading standards departments will be involved in this work, to ensure that the full range of concerns are taken properly into account.

The OFT will work closely with Ofgem where issues overlap with those within Ofgem’s jurisdiction. While the study’s focus is not specifically on access to, or use of, the gas and electricity networks, the OFT will be working closely with Ofgem to assess the interaction between access to networks and the development of the off-grid renewables market. The OFT proposes that the market study should consider the supply of off-grid energy, to cover a wide range of domestic energy sources including heating oil, liquefied petroleum gas and renewable energy from a range of sources.

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