In December 2005, one million gas customers and 1.2 million electricity customers were repaying a debt through their prepayment meter or by repayment arrangements. Around 60 per cent. of these customers owed less than £100 to their energy suppliers.
On 13 July I met a delegation from the Metals Forum, including a representative of the trade association UK Steel, to discuss energy costs and a range of other issues affecting the metals sector. Since then several hon. Members have raised this matter in writing on behalf of steel operations in their constituencies. In addition, DTI officials have discussed the issue on a number of occasions in their day-to-day contacts with key companies in this sector. Furthermore, the Department has set up the Business Energy Forum which is jointly chaired by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Richard Lambert of the Confederation of British Industry to look at prices, supply and the winter outlook for all industries. This is an area the Department takes very seriously and we are grateful to the representatives of UK industry that work with us on these matters.
When the Low Carbon Buildings programme phase one was launched in April 2006, we allocated £6.5 million to the household stream. On 25 October, we announced that a further £6.2 million of the total £28.5 million funding was to be re-allocated to the household stream for allocation up to June 2008. This is being achieved by transferring the bulk of public sector projects to the Low Carbon Buildings programme phase two, where £50 million is being made available to support projects in the public and not for profit sectors.
On 25 October 2006 we announced that £6.2 million of the total £28.5 million funding for the Low Carbon Buildings programme phase one was to be re-allocated to the household stream from all other streams. There has been no increase in funding.