Speeches by Reader.

“How can we ensure that communities are not left behind in areas where smart meters are not yet rolled out or upgraded to the latest generation?”

“I recognise that this is not your policy area, Simon, but you are welcome to come in if you want. If not, I will move to Penny. Same question: how do we ensure communities are not left behind in areas where smart meters cannot yet be rolled out or upgraded to the latest generation?”

“That is the target, but what about the structure of the programme? Did the energy companies choose which ones to fix first and where to focus the marketing?”

“Who decided what was the priority in the roll-out? I am guessing that, commercially, you will go for the low-hanging fruit and do the easy ones, and that vulnerable customers with RTS, particularly in rural areas, for instance in Scotland, have been left behind. We will potentially have people who will be unable to use…”

“I am going to talk about vulnerable customers, in particular RTS, but before I go into that I have a question for Ned. I am just working this through in my head, given what I have heard from you today about the way the fines worked. It is commercially beneficial for energy companies not to do the difficult ones now, be…”

“Wera talked about charging a car; my smart meter would tell me when to charge it to get the cheap stuff, but I cannot do that if my smart meter is not working, so my bills are going to go up. Should I pay for that, as a consumer?”

“It is fantastic to speak in the Chamber on a subject that has been part of my career for the better part of 20 years. I started working in the construction sector as a civil engineer and finished my time working on major programmes around the world. Planning, and particularly planning in respect of national programmes …”

“A key function of joined-up Government is joined-up procurement, and I have had the pleasure of working with the Crown Commercial Service as a supplier for over 15 years. There is an ongoing issue that the CCS runs its major procurements during holiday exercises, and this summer is no different. The construction profes…”

“I am sure that the whole House will join me in congratulating Nicky Wright, who was last week named consultant of the year in the Women in Construction and Engineering Awards. Nicky’s career started with work in Iraq and Angola, and now she is part of the leadership team delivering the fantastic transformation of Gatwi…”

“Caroline, it is very positive to hear your views that it is more than just the winter fuel payment that will solve this and solve the underlying problems. Do you think particularly the actions of Age UK have misled the public when what you tell my constituents, who send me your template emails, is “Fix the winter fuel …”

“Angus, do you want to add anything to that?”

“Dhara, I am conscious of the clock ticking, so I will ask you a different question. Could the broader energy system bear more of the cost of decarbonisation, or does it have to all be covered by consumers and bill payers?”

“Very good. How will the composition of consumer energy bills change by 2030? What do you think are the distributional consequences that might result? I will start with Merlin again.”

“We will go for quick answers from Angus and Dhara.”

“Let’s say from the point of the election, when that was on the leaflets that we all delivered.”

“A quick yes-or-no question for you, Merlin: do you think that the Government will reduce household energy bills by £300 by 2030?”

“Caroline, it is very positive to hear your views that it is more than just the winter fuel payment that will solve this and solve the underlying problems. Do you think particularly the actions of Age UK have misled the public when what you tell my constituents, who send me your template emails, is “Fix the winter fuel …”

“Angus, do you want to add anything to that?”

“Dhara, I am conscious of the clock ticking, so I will ask you a different question. Could the broader energy system bear more of the cost of decarbonisation, or does it have to all be covered by consumers and bill payers?”

“Very good. How will the composition of consumer energy bills change by 2030? What do you think are the distributional consequences that might result? I will start with Merlin again.”