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The Government is giving energy companies the power to snoop on customers’ incomes, tax records and property values. The Telegraph has the story:It could pave the way for surcharges on wealthier households to subsidise bills for others as part of future plans to tackle rising energy prices.
Ministers have identified eight official databases that could be shared with energy firms to help them “target” future support at certain households.
These include HMRC income tax and child benefit records, property valuations and benefits and pension records.
The sweeping new powers are part of the energy independence bill, introduced to Parliament last week.
The Government’s impact assessments reveal that future discounts on energy bills for those in financial need could be funded by an extra levy on the bill of wealthier customers. …
Under current laws, energy companies can access fuel poverty data to assess where to target energy relief schemes.
However, under the new laws, they would have access to a far greater range of customers’ personal datasets. These would be shared by the Government on a case-by-case basis, depending on the design of future schemes....<<<Read More>>>...
