9 January 2013
Waveney MP Peter Aldous this week wrote to the Department for Energy and Climate Change setting out his concerns about fuel poverty issues in the park homes sector.
Having met with Gregory Barker, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, last month about his Private Member’s Bill, the Mobile Homes Bill, Aldous has written to him after receiving further correspondence from residents concerned about high energy prices for park home owners.
Mr Aldous summarised park home owners’ vulnerability to fuel poverty as twofold:-
1. When the Maximum Resale Price Order at which gas and electricity can be resold is breeched, the only complaint system currently in place for park home owners is redress through the courts.
2. Site owners often sell liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to residents at highly inflated prices.
In an effort to reduce the exploitation of park home owners to the sale of fuel, Aldous urges the Government to take the matter up with OFGEM, consider bringing disputes about maximum resale prices under the jurisdiction of a low cost tribunal and introduce greater regulatory safeguards for residents in cases where the site owner charges higher than average energy prices.
Mr Aldous said:
“Evidence of profiteering is clearly apparent in the sale of fuel to park home residents. I have heard of 20 to 50% mark-ups on LPG canisters sold on park home sites and often it is elderly residents on fixed incomes who have to pay up. It is vital that we ensure greater transparency in the sector and where overcharging occurs, make enforcement measures available.”
The Mobile Homes Bill has the objective of updating the law relating to park homes, which is at present ineffective and outdated and neither deters unscrupulous site owners from exploiting residents nor provides local authorities with effective powers to monitor or improve the site condition.
The Bill’s Second Reading in the House of Lords is on 1st February during which Peers are likely to raise these issues before the Bill hopefully comes into law in Spring 2013.
Having met with Gregory Barker, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, last month about his Private Member’s Bill, the Mobile Homes Bill, Aldous has written to him after receiving further correspondence from residents concerned about high energy prices for park home owners.
Mr Aldous summarised park home owners’ vulnerability to fuel poverty as twofold:-
1. When the Maximum Resale Price Order at which gas and electricity can be resold is breeched, the only complaint system currently in place for park home owners is redress through the courts.
2. Site owners often sell liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to residents at highly inflated prices.
In an effort to reduce the exploitation of park home owners to the sale of fuel, Aldous urges the Government to take the matter up with OFGEM, consider bringing disputes about maximum resale prices under the jurisdiction of a low cost tribunal and introduce greater regulatory safeguards for residents in cases where the site owner charges higher than average energy prices.
Mr Aldous said:
“Evidence of profiteering is clearly apparent in the sale of fuel to park home residents. I have heard of 20 to 50% mark-ups on LPG canisters sold on park home sites and often it is elderly residents on fixed incomes who have to pay up. It is vital that we ensure greater transparency in the sector and where overcharging occurs, make enforcement measures available.”
The Mobile Homes Bill has the objective of updating the law relating to park homes, which is at present ineffective and outdated and neither deters unscrupulous site owners from exploiting residents nor provides local authorities with effective powers to monitor or improve the site condition.
The Bill’s Second Reading in the House of Lords is on 1st February during which Peers are likely to raise these issues before the Bill hopefully comes into law in Spring 2013.
