Electricity and Gas (Internal Markets and Network Codes) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Lord Oates Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Oates (LD)]

My Lords, I welcome the customary clarity with which the Minister introduced the regulations and the contributions of all speakers to the debate so far. It is a rare pleasure to spend two consecutive Thursdays discussing electricity and gas regulations in the company of the Minster, the opposition spokesperson and the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh. Great though that pleasure is, I am told you can get too much of a good thing, so I hope we will not put that adage to the test. There is a serious point because last week the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, raised the issue of the interrelationship between the regulations we were discussing then and the regulations we are discussing now. They are different in many respects, but all relate to EU exit. I wonder whether it is worth taking some of these together in future. It might save the Minister time and allow us to consider the cumulative impact of these exit regulations. My noble friend Lady Bowles raised important questions relating to the impact that changes the EU makes in future may have on our supply companies, particularly in respect of the interconnectors. My noble friend Lord Redesdale made a critical point about if we find ourselves in a no-deal situation, which the Government seem to be rushing headlong into. It is critical that the Minister is able to answer us on the impact of tariffs and the impact on consumers. The Explanatory Memorandum states that these regulations are necessary because the uncertainty that would be caused without them could result in an increase in wholesale prices. Given the volume of electricity through the interconnectors, it would be good to know what the position would be if we are forced onto WTO tariffs. I hope the Minister will address those issues.

I find it somewhat depressing to read the Explanatory Memorandum’s description of what the relevant EU laws did before exit because it summarises them in terms of liberalising energy markets, encouraging co-operation and establishing EU level frameworks. We will lose all that whether we exit in an orderly way after the implementation period or in the disorderly and potentially illegal way which the Government seem set on. Whatever happens, we will also be losing the opportunity for the UK to play a leadership role in shaping energy markets across Europe, particularly to serve our climate goals, and that is a very sad eventuality.

I want to take this opportunity to raise one issue relating to grid connections. I accept that this is not directly related to the regulations, so I will understand if the Minister cannot answer it, but I have had concerns raised with me about the difficulty of getting grid connections for renewable projects in rural areas, particularly agricultural land using solar and solar from rural schools. Can the Minister tell us something about this?

Finally, I asked the Minister last week whether it is the case, as Michel Barnier said in his speech to the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin, that in the area of energy, the UK is asking to facilitate electricity trade without committing its producers to equivalent carbon pricing and state aid controls. In what I can only imagine was an oversight, he failed to answer that question, so can he do so now?