Domestic Oil Purchasing Syndicates — House of Commons, 2015-12-07
Topic: Energy
Mark Fraser Williams (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): I am pleased to see that the Minister acknowledges that The development of domestic oil purchasing syndicates is an important and growing trend in many areas of the UK. [Interruption.] I welcome the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) to his place; I was wondering where he was. Those syndicates are helping many communities to save substantial amounts of money by buying their off-grid fuel collectively. This is also helping to tackle the serious issue of fuel poverty in many parts of the country. That issue is not unique to rural areas, but I want to concentrate on those areas this evening When communities organise to combine their orders, whether they are communities of single numbers or hundreds, they can negotiate discounts with suppliers by decreasing the number of vehicles that the supplier needs to send to an area, and guarantee the purchase of all the fuel delivered. So there is a gain not only for our constituents but for the suppliers. These arrangements can help substantially to decrease the cost to each member of the syndicate or club, and help to tackle some of the most pressing problems associated with the cost of fuel. Fuel prices represent a serious problem for many rural communities, including not only the scattered hamlets but the bigger towns of my constituency In Wales as a whole, 20% of all households still have no access to gas from the grid and are reliant on more expensive forms of fuel, such as oil and coal, as their main source of heating. I have the privilege of representing Ceredigion, a vast tract of rural west Wales with 700 farms and 147 communities. That gives hon. Members an idea of the kind of rurality I am talking about. In my constituency, a majority of households—69%—do not have access to mains gas, and many people are therefore reliant on the more expensive means of heating their homes. This issue is not limited to Wales. Sizeable areas of the United Kingdom, from the west country to the highlands of Scotland—and, I dare say, Northern Ireland as well—have a substantial number of households that cannot access mains gas. The choices available to those households are therefore limited The higher cost of off-grid fuel is compounded by other factors such as the age of the housing stock and poor energy efficiency—something that is especially problematic in rural communities with large numbers of solid-wall detached houses. Beyond the image of the beautiful countryside with its thatched cottages and clotted cream, there lies a deeper problem relating to heating houses and keeping our residents warm. There is an attractiveness to many of those isolated rural homes during the summer months, but it belies the reality of living in such old housing stock during the winter. Finding ways to ensure that families and vulnerable people living in rural areas are able to keep warm during the winter months is a major challenge that we must tackle on a cross-party basis The huge potential of oil syndicates in tackling fuel poverty was first brought to my attention by the late Jane Wakeham, a constituent of mine from the famous, or infamous, village of Llanddewi Brefi. I should declare an interest, as my home on the clifftops of west Wales is oil supplied and my wife, who manages these things on behalf of our household, actively seeks out syndicates wherever they are.