Speeches by Murphy.

“Is there a particular reason why they would not do that? Would that not be a useful thing to see?”

“Do you publish the figures?”

“I think this question has kind of been answered, but do you believe that greater oversight of energy billing is needed to prevent suppliers from issuing unfair or inaccurate bills in the first place?”

“On the data matching, is there a concern that it might work against the objectives of some Departments—the Treasury, for example? If you apply data matching across a whole number of benefits, suddenly it becomes much easier for everyone who is eligible to receive the benefit.”

“I have spoken to a number of people in the industry, and they have said a number of things on this issue. One is that they really welcome the Government’s action on data matching; I think they have seen that as a really positive step by the Government. They have also said that they have gone through repeated winters un…”

“This is a wider issue beyond back billing, but what about the case for a social tariff to protect the most vulnerable consumers?”

“Do you think there is a case for the period to be shortened to six months, as Citizens Advice has recommended?”

“Would the Government consider a complete ban on back billing beyond 12 months to make the rules as clear as possible? At the moment it does not seem right that a consumer has to have asked for an accurate bill in order to be exempt from back charges beyond 12 months.”

“Is the number of customers that the suppliers are reporting on back billing proportionate to their customer base? Is it broadly distributed, rather than there being a particular repeat offender?”

“The Minister arrived just as you said that.”

“Do you think there is a case for a statutory Energy Ombudsman?”

“It does not sound like the Energy Ombudsman refers those kinds of cases to you on the regular.”

“Martin talked about the Financial Ombudsman—admittedly, this is his postbag—and the fact that he does not get complaints about providers in that market ignoring its rulings, but he regularly gets that with regard to the Energy Ombudsman. How can it be right when, according to Martin, it appears that suppliers are consi…”

“I guess my point was, if it was commensurate with the size of the back bill, that would create quite a powerful incentive not to do it. What actions have you taken in instances of threatening and bullying behaviour from energy suppliers when seeking payment for back bills? Have you seen instances of that?”

“Where someone has been incorrectly back billed, is there a case for the supplier having to pay that back, plus 100%?”

“I think the numbers you mentioned were almost self-reported. Do you think that suppliers are being proactive enough? It sounds like they are not identifying back-billing errors and offering consumers automatic compensation.”

“Do you publish the figures?”

“Is the number of customers that the suppliers are reporting on back billing proportionate to their customer base? Is it broadly distributed, rather than there being a particular repeat offender?”

“I think this question has kind of been answered, but do you believe that greater oversight of energy billing is needed to prevent suppliers from issuing unfair or inaccurate bills in the first place?”

“In 2023, the energy suppliers paid around £78 million in redress payments and fines. Are you able to say how much of that was directly related to breaches of the rules on back billing?”