We have no current plans to establish a national fuel fund.<\/p>
The Government provides support to those struggling with their gas and electricity bills through:<\/p>
\u2022 The Warm Home Discount, which provides a £140 rebate to more than two million households;<\/p>
\u2022 Winter Fuel Payments, that provides £200-300 to pensioners, ensuring that they can keep warm during the colder months; and<\/p>
\u2022 Cold Weather Payments, which were automatically provided to more than one million households during winter 2018-19.<\/p>
In addition, the default tariff cap protects all consumers on default tariffs from being overcharged and Ofgem\u2019s safeguard price cap protects consumers on pre-payment meter tariffs.<\/p>
The most sustainable approach to decreasing energy bills is improving energy efficiency.<\/p>
\u2022 The Energy Company Obligation drives £640 million of investment annually into improving the efficiency of low income and vulnerable households.<\/p>
\u2022 The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards require landlords spend up to £3500 (including VAT) improving their rented properties to EPC Band E.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2616", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Henley"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Henley"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-23T13:45:57.697Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "201"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-07-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Fuel Poverty"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to establish a national fuel fund to support those unable to meet gas and electricity bills.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2018", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Hylton"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Hylton"} ], "uin" : "HL17253"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }