§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will estimate the total income from standing charges from gas and electricity in 1982–83 and 1983–84; how many consumers were affected by concessionary payments; and how many of these were pensioners.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithThe gas and electricity industries' income from standing charges is £500 million a year each. Estimates indicate that 3 million gas and 2 million electricity consumers received rebates under the industries' standing charge rebate schemes in 1983–84, the first full year of their operation, and that for electricity around a third of these were pensioners. No estimate is available for gas.