Energy Bill
Debate between Lord Berkeley and Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan
Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan
We have been told that the dome is now on the power station at Flamanville, so in the not-too-distant-future, four or five years behind schedule, we might start to get some electricity from that station. I am not being Francophobic here, but I do not think that the French will have that much spare capacity that they will want to keep selling to us. There may well be others in Europe who would be prepared to pay more because their position will be even more dire than ours could be if the worst scenario came about.
On the other question, I am confident that on 14 September next year, Scotland will vote to remain part of the United Kingdom. Then we might start to have a Government in Scotland who will not have us living off windmills, because that is the problem that we are going to have as long as the nationalist Administration is in power and we are going to have to depend on Salmond’s hot air to keep the windmills going.
Lord Berkeley
Is the technology at Flamanville, which my noble friend said is five years late, not the same technology with which EDF is proposing to equip our stations in this country, or is it new?
Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan
It is. Not only is it slow to build, but it is more expensive than some of the other kit that could be available. It is on a wing and a prayer. We have fallen behind. It may well be that the Finnish and the Flamanville experiences will be such that all the problems will be ironed out and we will have EDF building the first reactor at Hinckley on time and within budget. One can only hope that. Companies ride learning curves. One hopes that Arriva has ironed out all the kinks. The problems in Finland were different from the problems in France, but the combination of the two seems to suggest that they had not really done so in Europe at least, because power stations of this character are being built efficiently and speedily in the Far East but unfortunately not in continental Europe.
Energy Bill
Debate between Lord Berkeley and Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan
Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan
I just want to make the point to my noble friend that, of the six companies that currently exist as vertically integrated companies, two of them started off as vertically integrated companies because of the difference between the jurisdictions in Scotland and England and the desire of the Secretary of State for Scotland to have vertical integration. Therefore, we have always had that vertical integration for two of the companies. The interesting thing is that one of the two is still British-owned, whereas all the other companies are now in the hands of foreign owners. Scottish and Southern Energy is located in Perth; it may have major shareholders across the world but it is still a Scottish company, or a UK company based in Scotland, which is something that we tend to lose sight of.
Lord Berkeley
I am grateful to my noble friend. He is absolutely right. It is good to have Scottish companies. It is also good to have companies that all pay their tax, wherever they are based, although that is probably a slightly separate subject. My concern is whether the companies, whether they are Scottish, English, British or whatever, are behaving fairly with the generators that do not have access to the retail market. As I said, it would be perfectly possible to have a Chinese wall rather than total separation if that could be worked. I am not sure what the disadvantage of that is but it is only one small cog in the whole jigsaw puzzle—I am mixing the metaphors nicely—of making fair competition that works and which is for the good of the consumer. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.