Mark has been campaigning on this issue over a long period to get a fair deal for consumers. Fuel to cook and keep warm shouldn’t have to be a luxury accessory for anyone.

He has produced a free leaflet on help with heating your home, called ‘Staying Warm,’ which you can find here.

Pre-payment meters

Locally, he has been working with the North Edinburgh Fuel Poverty Action Group which has been running a campaign on pre-payment meters (PPMs). People who use meters pay much more for their gas or electricity than thiose who are able to benefit from the discounts available by paying by direct debit and online. This means households on low-income can end up with higher energy bills through no fault of their own.

To read more on this, click here.

Work at Westminster on fuel poverty

Mark sponsored an Early Day Motion in Parliament to raise awareness of the campaign which you can read here.

This was a way of allowing the voices of people locally to be heard in Parliament on the issue. Of course, this isn’t the only way – Mark often refers to letters from constituents or local intiatives in his speeches but it is a good example of an issue where Mark is working with a local group to try and influence Government policy.

In Parliament, Mark meets regularly with other MPs who are interested in fuel poverty to discuss new ideas on how to tackle the issue.

Mark has also published an article on fuel poverty in the House Magazine which is a political weekly published at Westminster whose editorial board is composed of MPs and peers. To read the article, click here.

All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt and Personal Finance

He also chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt and Personal Finance which has been looking at this issue over a long period. 

For instance, in October last year the Group held a meeting on the issue with David Kidney, the Minister then responsible at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, together with representatives from Ofgem, the Energy Retail Association (ERA) and Citizens Advice.

There was some tough questioning of practices in the industry, focusing in particular on whether there was proper competition in the energy market and how easy in practice it was for consumers to switch suppliers. Clearly there was a case to answer. To read a full report of the meeting click here.