Labour grants energy firms access to customer tax records, as party accused of 'big brother' tactics

Ministers have named eight official databases that could be disclosed with energy firms to prompt them to 'target' future support at certain households. Labour is granting multiple energy firms across the country to access their users' financial records, including HMRC income tax, child benefit records, property valuations, and pension records, in a movement described as a 'Big Brother overreach'. These new powers were enforced as part of the Energy Independence Bill , introduced to Parliament last week.

The bill aims to ban new North Sea oil and gas licences, accelerate clean energy infrastructure, and revamp household energy bills. It aims to give households more control over their bills, with estimated savings for a large portion of gas account holders. Read more: Swinney’s response on oil and gas ‘is incoherent’ Read more: Energy company uses gas network to transport hydrogen in first test of its kind Andrew Bowie, the shadow energy secretary, accused the Government of waging “class warfare” on energy bills.

He said: “Working people did not vote for a big brother state that spies on them and sends them a bigger energy bill." Under the current law, energy companies can access fuel poverty data to determine where to target energy help schemes. However, new laws set out that they would have access to a far greater selection of customers' personal records, and shared by the Government on a case-by-case basis. The scheme states that it will "support those less able to pay, and the costs of the scheme would fall principally on those most able to pay".

According to the document, this would mean a “redistribution" from those who are not currently eligible for support but are funding the scheme, to those who are eligible for support. This would “represent a transfer from primarily high-income households to low-income households”, it added. Simon Francis, the co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said Labour’s promise to “implement a long-term plan to help households who are struggling with energy bills” through the energy independence bill was “very welcome”.

He added: "It is disappointing that seeking funding for a social tariff through household bills is the first funding option on the table." A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said that naming the plan as “big brother overreach” was “misleading”.