To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his most recent estimate is of the proportion of customers using a pre-payment meter who have a household income below 60 per cent. of median income. (289645)

In England in 2006, around 30 per cent. of households using a pre-payment meter for either their gas, electricity or both utilities had an income below 60 per cent. of the median.

The income measures used to derive the estimates employ the same methodology as the Department for Work and Pensions publication ‘Households Below Average Income’ series, which uses net disposable household income, adjusted (or “equivalised”) for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. Small differences in the definition of income will exist because of the use of a different survey source.