Poverty Surcharges On Electricity

EDM number 1260 in 1993-94, proposed by Alan Simpson on 19/05/1994.

That this House notes that almost 1 in 10 of the country's electricity users are now on pre-payment meters, and are overwhelmingly amongst the poorest households in the country; is appalled that electricity companies now levy a surcharge on the poor for the use of these meters; congratulates the Nottingham Evening Post in revealing that some 50,000 meter users in the East Midlands pay almost ú50 a year more for the same electricity than those able to pay in advance of VAT; and calls upon the Government to compel electricity companies to abandon their practice of a poverty surcharge upon those least able to meet the rising energy charges.

This motion has been signed by a total of 62 MPs.