§ Mr. Harry BarnesTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what monitoring and action is taken by his Department to stop undue pressure being placed upon the consumers of the services provided by existing or former public utilities for the payment of bills which are held to be outstanding.
§ Mr. LeighThe Gas Consumers Council, whose members are appointed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, represents consumers' interests and investigates complaints. In doing so, it works closely with British Gas plc and the Director General of Gas Supply. British Gas plc has a code of practice on disconnections which provides that no pensioner may be cut off during the winter months and customers experiencing payment difficulties are offered gas payment plans and prepayment meters. As a result, disconnections have fallen sharply from a peak of 60,778 per annum in 1987 to 19,379 in 1989.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has set up four advisory committees on telecommunications to represent consumers' interests in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These committees advise the Director General of the Office of Telecommunications on matters affecting consumers of telecommunications services. British Telecom has various ways of dealing with outstanding bills, including in appropriate cases negotiating a payment package for an exceptionally high bill in one quarter due to special circumstances. Moreover, when there are disputes over bills, customers will not be disconnected provided that the undisputed items on the bill are paid.
Following electricity privatisation, responsibility for electricity consumers has now passed to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy