Graham Leadbitter

Graham Leadbitter

Scottish National Party — Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey

Speaking in the House of Commons on 4 December 2024

Debate

End of Radio Teleswitch Service: Rural Areas

Contribution

My experience is that the energy company has been in touch with me. The tone of the emails has been quite pushy, which is what we are talking about, in that they need to be pushing quite hard on customers to make that change and get the right meter in place. However, when I have subsequently been in touch with them—I do not have a smart meter yet; it is coming in January—the first time there were no appointments and they were unable to answer that simple question of whether it will be cheaper. I cannot stress enough how much I have had to push them to get that answer out of them. I am not a vulnerable customer; I understand why this is happening, like everybody else in the Chamber. Vulnerable customers, however, may just accept that. There is a sense of urgency that needs to be injected, but it needs to come with a note of caution about how it is injected and how it is communicated, and it needs to make sure that customers understand how much they are likely to be paying. There also needs to be a transitional arrangement so that if somebody gets the wrong tariff, they are not penalised for that and it can be changed.

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