Lord Barker of Battle
Main Page: Lord Barker of Battle (Conservative - Life peer)(12 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
To drive early take-up of the green deal, we have announced a £125 million cashback incentive for consumers, a £10 million pioneer places fund to encourage early activity from local authorities, and a £12 million fund for core cities to prepare the supply chain. The new energy saving advice service helpline is in place: the number is 0300 123 1234. We have published green deal quick guides, and the new green deal website was launched on Wednesday 17 October.
Nadhim Zahawi
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the fantastic work that he is doing on the green deal. The supply chain that he mentioned is incredibly important. What steps is he taking to encourage smaller businesses from across the country to become suppliers?
Gregory Barker
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question. I know he is a huge champion of smaller businesses, and I can assure him that we see small and medium-sized enterprises as critical to the delivery of the green deal. In fact, I regularly meet SMEs, and this week had a meeting with the Federation of Small Businesses. My Department has set up an expert panel specifically to consider the role of SMEs, chaired by the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr Raynsford), for whose co-operation I am very grateful. We have also held a series of national roadshows around the country to alert local businesses to the opportunities right the way through the green deal supply chain, which I am pleased to report to my hon. Friend has attracted a great deal of interest.
Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)
The green deal is an excellent initiative and we obviously hope it will get results, but clearly the current economic situation is not a time when many people are going to be keen to take out loans for anything at all. Will the Minister tell us what steps he is taking to support people on lower incomes who might feel unable at the moment to take out loans under a green deal scheme?
Gregory Barker
First, let me make it absolutely clear that green deals are not loans—certainly not loans as most people understand them. Everybody taking out a green deal should be better off, net-net, on their energy bill after they have had the interventions. It is not something that anybody could feel unable to afford. For those on particularly low incomes, where more work needs to be done on the home than can be financed on a green deal plan, there is £1.3 billion ECO—energy company obligation—programme, which will unleash a huge wave of investment to bring up to standard the homes of the most vulnerable and poorest.
Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)
3. What steps he is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
The green deal, together with the energy company obligation, is the coalition’s transformational programme to help consumers make energy saving improvements to their homes. We expect the first green deal finance plans to be written by the end of January next year. Our ambitious roll-out of smart meters will have reached every home in the country by 2019.
Nick Smith
Homes in Blaenau Gwent, some more than 1,200 feet above sea level, need energy saving insulation now. Locally based RIS Insulation says there is a serious gap in Government policy as the green deal will not offer loans until late next year and that many jobs could be lost. How are the Government going to bridge that gap?
Gregory Barker
I am very pleased to correct that misinformation. The green deal finance plans will be written from January next year. The ECO is already in place, while the carbon emissions reduction target and the community energy saving programme will continue through to the end of this year, so there is a substantial programme of work that is seamless, running from the end of CERT and CESP right through to the take-up of the more transformational green deal programme.
Alison Seabeck
Evidence produced by the Office for National Statistics and highlighted in the Plymouth Herald this week has highlighted the fact that many more people are working beyond pensionable age, in part because of the need to pay their high energy bills. The last Labour Government put tough obligations on those energy companies to support vulnerable families, including pensioners, with insulation. With only 10 weeks left, Ofgem is now warning that many of those energy companies are not going to meet their targets. What is the Minister doing to nail these energy companies and to explain to my pensioners in Plymouth that they are going to be supported and be warm?
Gregory Barker
The hon. Lady is right: there have been shortcomings in the programmes introduced under the last Government—namely, CERT and CESP. We have done much more to drive deployment of those programmes into vulnerable homes and for the super priority group. I have assurances that we will meet those targets for CERT and CESP, but the great thing about the green deal is that it is applicable to every single home. Whether it be pensioners living in rented accommodation or people living in social housing or on their own, the green deal will be for them, along with a whole range of measures that were not available under CERT.
Mr Tim Yeo (South Suffolk) (Con)
Recognising entirely the important contribution that the green deal will make, does the Minister nevertheless accept the concerns expressed by the Select Committee about the relative absence of energy-efficiency measures from the draft energy Bill? When the final Bill eventually appears, will it include further measures, and has his Department given consideration to a feed-in tariff for energy efficiency?
Gregory Barker
This is one of a number of measures under active consideration at the moment. The energy Bill is very complex, as my hon. Friend the Chair of the Select Committee knows, but it will include the most transformational, radical proposals on energy efficiency ever introduced in this place. Given the complexity and the need to consult, some of these measures may be introduced by way of Government amendment as we take the Bill through the House. I can tell my hon. Friend that the Government are leading and are determined to act on energy efficiency in a way that the Labour party failed to do in 13 years of office.
David Morris (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Con)
The Hitachi deal is welcome in my constituency, but during a recent Select Committee hearing, the chief executive of EDF said that nuclear was not a done deal and that there would be some underwriting. Can the Minister tell us what that underwriting is, and whether there will be a public subsidy for nuclear generation?
Mr Speaker
Order. May I encourage Members to look closely at the question on the Order Paper, and to frame their supplementary questions accordingly?
Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)
6. How many people self-disconnected from their energy supplies in the last 12 months.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
The Department does not hold, and never has held, this information. However, Ofgem monitors disconnection issues more broadly, and in particular the obligation on energy companies not to disconnect vulnerable customers during winter months. I am pleased to be able to tell the House that Ofgem’s latest figures show that in 2011 the number of people disconnected from their energy supply for debt-related reasons fell by 54% for electricity and 59% for gas.
Julie Hilling
The energy companies proudly tell us they rarely disconnect customers. However, last year they installed prepayment meters to recover debt in more than 200,000 households, which increases the cost of power and, more importantly, means some households cannot afford to use gas and electricity. Will the Minister ask the energy companies to record the number of people who are so-called “self-disconnecting”?
Gregory Barker
This is obviously an issue for Members on both sides of the House, and we need to do more to address it. I am very pleased that we have made progress in reducing the total number of disconnections, but I take on board the hon. Lady’s point and I would be very happy to meet her to discuss her ideas.
Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)
There is a group of residential consumers who are off the gas grid and do not have the protection of Ofgem: people who use heating oil and liquefied petroleum gas. Will the Minister say something about people who in effect self-disconnect by not buying oil?
Gregory Barker
This is a significant issue. In Sussex I am one of those customers, and the cost of heating oil is staggering. My hon. Friend the Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry) did terrific work in this area when he was a Minister in the Department. Last year, he looked extensively into possible cartels and competition issues, and we continue to look very carefully into that. Again, I would happily meet my hon. Friend to explain exactly what we are doing.
Mr Mike Weir (Angus) (SNP)
The Minister only talked about on-grid electricity and gas in his original answer, but there are also serious off-grid disconnection problems. Sometimes they arise because people are unable to afford supplies, and sometimes there are involuntary disconnections because of difficulties in getting supplies through in bad weather. Has the Minister spoken to the major suppliers in this market to remind them of the difficulties faced by those on low incomes and to ensure there are no disconnections this winter?
Gregory Barker
I have not personally spoken to suppliers of heating oil because that is not part of my portfolio; it is part of the Energy Minister’s portfolio. As I have just said, however, the former Minister, the hon. Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry), was extremely forensic in taking this through, and his work continues in the Department.
Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)
I welcome Ofgem’s changes allowing households on prepayment meters with debts of less than £500 to switch to a cheaper tariff with a different electricity operator. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that making it easier for consumers to shop around and get a cheaper tariff will benefit everybody on prepayment meters, as well as those on other forms of payment?
Gregory Barker
Absolutely. We not only want to make it easier for consumers to shop around; we also want to ensure they are supplied with better information. We will use legislation to help people get the best deal.
Claire Perry (Devizes) (Con)
8. What steps his Department is taking to help people lower their energy bills.
Caroline Flint (Don Valley) (Lab)
A year ago today, the Government announced their first round of cuts to the feed-in tariff for solar power. As instillations flatline, Ministers have clung to the line that their plans will allow 4 million homes to be solar powered, with 22 GW of solar to be installed by 2020. Will the plan for 22 GW, which was announced in April, still be the Government’s policy when they publish their renewable road map, or does he now accept that, because of his cuts, Britain will not reach that target for at least another 30 years?
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
I do not know whether the right hon. Lady is deliberately misunderstanding what was said or whether she just did not grasp it in the first place. What we said about deployment rates is that we have the potential to deploy 22 GW if we can continue to drive down the cost of solar.
Gregory Barker
Yes, I did, but there was a little more context to it. If the right hon. Lady stopped muttering and rabbiting on, she would hear what I am saying. If she would like the answer, 22 GW is certainly our ambition, but in order to meet that ambition we need not just deployment, but deployment at a level that the country can afford. That is what we are about on the Government Benches—delivering renewables at a rate that the country can afford and that delivers good value to consumers, as opposed to the open handed, open cheque book, high-cost model deployed under the Labour party.
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
T5. Both the Energy and Climate Change Committee and the independent Committee on Climate Change have argued that the Government should set a carbon intensity target for the power sector. Does my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State agree with them?
Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)
The Rugby Advertiser reports that a local pensioner has been scammed into paying £99 for a device that was claimed to save energy but that, according to Warwickshire trading standards, is dangerous and will not save any money. Will the Minister join me in condemning companies that take advantage in that way of consumers who are concerned about their energy costs?
Gregory Barker
Absolutely. I was appalled to read of the case raised by my hon. Friend, who is a great champion of his constituents. Trading standards exists to help such victims, and I am pleased to hear that Warwickshire trading standards is investigating the case. I would be grateful if my hon. Friend kept me informed of progress, as we take the matter very seriously indeed.
Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)
T7. If the new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point goes ahead, the people of Bridgwater will face 700 extra lorry movements a day and other massive strain on their infrastructure. Will the Minister ensure that they get long-term community benefit in return?
Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)
Following the reductions in winter fuel payments that the Government have implemented, many senior citizen households are finding it difficult to meet bills, especially for lump-sum payments for home heating oil. What are the Government doing to address that problem?
Gregory Barker
I am afraid I did not catch the last part of the right hon. Gentleman’s question about heating oil.
Gregory Barker
As the right hon. Gentleman may know, more than 2 million of the most vulnerable households—primarily pensioners—will receive the warm home discount in addition to winter fuel payments. The Government are taking record action to ensure that our support is directed at those who need it most, and we are proud of our record.
Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)
Are Ministers on the Treasury Bench aware of the assertion by GE Hitachi, which is engaged in buying the Horizon consortium, that it can build fast nuclear reactors in four years, thus reducing the time to market and, potentially, the subsidy required?
Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)
When the Government changed the rules on feed-in tariffs, 100 jobs were lost in my constituency. What calculation has been made of the number of jobs that will be lost if, as in the view of the Minister of State, no more onshore wind turbines are to be built?
Gregory Barker
We have big ambitions for microgeneration and distributed energy, but only if it provides real value for money for consumers who pay the bills and will be buying that technology. We can do that if we provide a long-term stable framework, which is what we are doing. The feed-in tariff was never designed as a job creation scheme in itself; it was designed to drive a mass take-up of distributed energy.
Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)
The National Grid Company has a statutory duty to consider social and environmental costs when evaluating routes for electricity transmission, whether overhead, underground or undersea. It wrote to my constituents acknowledging that duty, and assured them that it would provide detailed analysis for the Hinkley C connection project. As the company has plans to announce its route alignment on Tuesday 6 November, but has not yet provided that information, will the Minister intervene on behalf of my constituents to ensure that it does not ignore its statutory duties—