Esther McVey has “cautiously” welcomed extra support for households heated by oil hit by huge hikes due to the Middle East conflict - days after she called for action.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced £53 million has been made available to help “vulnerable” households affected by the sharp increase in costs.
The announcement comes after Ms McVey wrote to the Competitions Markets Authority calling for an investigation, after being contacted by constituents who were having their oil orders cancelled, only to be told to reorder and then charged double.
Ms McVey said: “It is right the Prime Minister has listened and announced support for these households – the majority of who are in more rural areas - but I fear £53 million will not be enough. I will always welcome any help for my constituents but as with anything the devil is in the detail. I’ll be asking further questions of government about this to see what actual help is available for my constituents hit by these unacceptable price hikes.”
“Will this be enough to offset the soaring prices and how long will it take to get support to these households? These are just two of the questions that need answering.”
Households using oil to heat their homes are not capped by regulator Ofgem in the same way customers who use gas and electricity are.
Last week, oil prices surged over $100 per barrel as the conflict continues.
Ms McVey added: “We should be doing everything we can to reduce energy bills for all households and what I want to see is the Prime Minister go further and remove net zero taxes and climate levies on energy bills.”
In her letter to the CEO of the CMA Ms McVey along with Conservative colleagues called for an investigation into three areas; price gouging during the Iran conflict, local monopolies and lack of price transparency and systematic overcharging of customers on automatic delivery schemes.
