, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Mr O'Shea, I see that you have your hand raised.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
So, would you agree—I'll bring Mr O'Shea in now, but would you not agree that a societal problem is one person every single 10 seconds being disconnected from an energy supply at the moment?
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you. Mr Ward, do you have any comments on that, before we go back to Buffy?
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
If I can bring in Dhara Vyas in, please.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you. Any further questions, Joel? I’ll move to Buffy Williams, who’s online as well.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you for that. It seems, in this session, and, of course, outside this session, there has been lots of reflection, and perhaps what we've heard today, if I can summarise at this point, is if we would have known some of the problems in front of us, we…
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you for that. Luke Fletcher wanted to come in.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Dhara, you're still pink or purple on our screens in front of us, and I sense you may have missed some of that. But what you did hear, you agree with.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Mr Ward, I could see that you were nodding in agreement.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you. Joel James.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you. Mr Ward.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you. I'll ask Mr Ward and Mr O'Shea a further question to that before taking questions from Joel James around data. I had evidence submitted to me through a survey of a constituent of mine—we referred to this in the last session—and I'll quote their…
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Well, it's a first for the Petitions Committee, I can tell you that. Just to get your view, then, because there seem to be conflicting views, one from the Scottish Power point of view, where they will continue to use debt collection agencies, and British Gas…
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
It's fine. We can hear you and you can hear us fine. We just wanted to check that there was nothing wrong.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you. I'll come to Dhara to ask the same question now. Dhara, you seem to be pink on our screen here.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you. Joel James, a supplementary question.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
So, will Scottish Power continue to use debt collection agencies? I note, Mr O'Shea, in your letter to committee, you say British Gas won't be using them anymore. I can see you're nodding to confirm that. Scottish Power will continue to use debt collection…
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you, Rhys. Mr Ward, can I assume, with what you've said—? You said at the start that energy suppliers perhaps aren't best placed to decide if someone's vulnerable or not, and it's quite a difficult thing to do. Would you agree with the assessment that…
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you. We'll move to questions from Members. Rhys ab Owen.
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Thank you, Andrew. Dhara, any further comments from Energy UK's point of view?
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Okay, thank you. I'll bring Andrew Ward in, and, then Dhara, I'll come to you for the perspective from Energy UK. Andrew, same questions; your numbers are so high. And if I can say from the start as well, I'm conscious—. I thank Mr O'Shea for his detailed…
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Before bringing, perhaps, Mr Ward or Dhara Vyas in, are you saying, then, the current regulations that you are subject to are suitable?
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Diolch yn fawr iawn, all. Thank you very much for being with us today. We just held a session with Neil Kenward from Ofgem, and we're grateful for your time in front of us. We'll jump into questions shortly from Members, but perhaps first to set the scene of…
, Petitions Committee
Evidence session 2 - P-06-1326 The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales
Okay, welcome back, everybody, to this afternoon's Petitions Committee session here in the Senedd. We move to item 3—the second evidence session for P-06-1326, 'The Senedd should scrutinise the prepayment meter scandal in Wales'. We're joined by witnesses…
, Petitions Committee
Updates to previous petitions
Diolch yn fawr iawn, Buffy, for that. Any further comments on Buffy’s suggestion? No, I can see that Members agree with that, and I think it’s the right way forward. We will write, with Tassia’s comments to committee, to the health Minister, to seek that…
