§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for Energy what progress has been made with the review of the code of practice on payment of domestic electricity and gas bills announced on 22nd June.
§ Dr. John CunninghamI chaired a joint meeting on 19th July to initiate the review together with Ministerial colleagues from the other Government Departments concerned and representatives of the electricity and gas consumers' councils, the electricity and gas industries and the trade unions representing their staffs. We reviewed suggestions so far received for changes to the present version of the code and agreed to set up a joint working party of officials to pursue this work in detail.
Organisations and individuals with suggestions to make for changes to the code have been invited to send them together with supporting evidence to the Electricity Consumers' Council or the National Gas Consumers' Council by 31st August. Suggestions relating to the electricity industry in Scotland should be sent to the appropriate Scottish electricity consultative council. It was also agreed that a longer-term independent study of the code should be commissioned. An appropriate organisation will be appointed to 298W determine how well the code is providing guidance and safeguards from disconnection for people in genuine difficulty in paying their bills.