Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps the Government is taking to bring the cost of pre-payment meters into line with other payment methods such as direct debit.

Andrea Leadsom

Energy suppliers are required under the terms of their licence to ensure that any differences in charges only reflect the higher levels of costs to serve pre-payment meter customers.

I welcome the positive steps some energy suppliers are taking to offer better prepayment meter tariffs including offering the same prices as direct debit customers. Nevertheless, we share the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) concern that there is still a limited choice of tariffs for pre-pay customers compared to direct debit and standard credit. The CMA’s final report is due to be published shortly.