§ Mr. BoyesTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about the effect of pre-payment by large-scale gas and electricity users to avoid value added tax on domestic fuel from 1 April; and what assessment he has made of the scale of pre-payment and its effect on (i) the revenue expected from the tax and (ii) the level of savings held in building societies.
§ Sir John Cope[holding answer 12 April 1994]: It is estimated that about 5 per cent. of domestic electricity consumers and about 4 per cent. of domestic gas consumers paid fuel bills in advance of the imposition of VAT on 1 April. No breakdown of the figures by size of user is possible. The effect of these prepayments on the revenue yield is estimated to be small in comparison with the yield from VAT on domestic fuel and power. It is not possible to quantify the effect of these prepayments on the level of savings in building societies.