Miatta Fahnbulleh

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth (Sarah Edwards) for introducing this important debate, and all hon. Members for their insightful contributions. I assure them all that the Government are taking this issue seriously, and we are working at pace to respond to it. The experience of Roasters reflects the issues that consumers face in an energy market that, quite frankly, is not working for them. Let me be clear that reforming the energy market so that it works for consumers and is fair is a key priority for this Government. We have made progress already, which I will set out, but we must do more. I was extremely disappointed to learn of another example of a customer receiving incorrect bills and back-billing requests. Ofgem supply licence conditions are very clear: suppliers must take all reasonable steps to reflect accurate meter readings in bills or statements where these have been provided by a customer or taken by a supplier. Suppliers must also take all reasonable steps to obtain meter readings at least twice annually. They must provide historical consumption information to all customers upon request and explain how a customer’s bill was worked out.