Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Alan Whitehead and Amber Rudd
Amber Rudd
It is more about the number of houses or businesses that we support for the renewable heat incentive and not always about the pure cost. It is not necessarily about the league table of costs, but rather about the outcomes that we get. We are consulting on the renewable heat incentive to ensure that we deliver the best value for the taxpayer. I am committed to making sure that we use the money in the most cost-effective way.
Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)
The Secretary of State did not address the question of the relationship of the renewable heat incentive proposals and finances to the UK’s contribution to the EU renewables target of 12% by 2020. As my hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) mentioned a moment ago, we are still short of that target. Is the Secretary of State confident that the measures and finances that she has suggested in the new RHI proposals will enable us to reach that target, or is she actively considering other measures to make sure that we do?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Alan Whitehead and Amber Rudd(9 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Amber Rudd
I simply do not recognise the picture the hon. Lady portrays. It is, of course, a bit rich for Labour to point that out when it has absolutely no record of planning for the future. We are the Government who are delivering the first nuclear power station. We are the Government who are taking the difficult choices for the next 10 to 15 years. I remind the hon. Lady that the Carrington closed cycle is going to start this year.
Amber Rudd
The hon. Gentleman says one. That is, of course, more than the zero to which his hon. Friend referred. This is exactly why we will be looking at the capacity market again, to ensure it delivers new gas.
Amber Rudd
I would dispute with the hon. Gentleman the direct connection he has made. The closure of coal will be part of a consultation, but it is influenced by many different things, including the age of the fleet, the wholesale price that is being delivered and other matters. On his question about EDF, may I reassure him that I have regular conversations with the board and the chief executive? I am confident that we will have good news soon.
Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)
The Secretary of State, in her energy reset speech, said that taking “coal off the system” by 2025 will
“only proceed if we’re confident that the shift to new gas can be achieved within these timescales.”
Bearing in mind that no new large gas-fired power station has commenced building in the past six years, and that the last two capacity auctions have underwritten the building of only one power station, which will probably not be built, what plans does she have to procure the building of new gas-fired power stations to ensure that her pledge is actually met?
Amber Rudd
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: the plan is to move from coal to gas so that we can reduce our emissions and have secure investment going forward. I am delighted to say that the Carrington closed cycle gas turbine will commission next year, and we have 12 additional CCGTs commissioned. I have also stated that we will have the capacity market adapted to make sure that we can deliver gas. It is going to be an essential part of the low-carbon mix, and it is this Government who are making the plans and securing energy sources for the future.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Alan Whitehead and Amber Rudd(9 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Amber Rudd
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I received a message of support from DONG Energy, which is a big investor in offshore wind. The UK is rightly proud of its offshore wind sector. We have more offshore wind than the rest of the world put together. There is a lot of interest in that internationally and it has great export potential. We will continue to support it.
Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)
I applaud the Secretary of State’s announcement yesterday in her reset speech that coal will be phased out by 2025 on the grounds of its unacceptably high carbon emissions. In the same speech, she indicated that temporary subsidies to assist the deployment of renewables, which are the lowest-carbon alternative energy source, would come to an end, while permanent subsidies for the deployment of gas, which is a far higher carbon alternative, would be maintained. On reflection, does she find those positions at all contradictory?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Alan Whitehead and Amber Rudd(9 years, 7 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)
1. What assessment she has made of the relative net financial benefit to the public purse of early closure of the renewables obligation using different cost methodologies.
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Amber Rudd)
May I start by welcoming the hon. Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy) to her Front-Bench role?
We estimate that closing the renewables obligation early to large and small-scale solar PV projects will reduce costs to the levy control framework by between £180 million and £280 million per year. The estimated saving of closing the RO early to new onshore wind is up to £270 million per year. The details of those cost estimates are published in impact assessments that are available on DECC’s webpage.
Dr Whitehead
Does the Secretary of State agree that publishing impact assessments two months after decisions have been taken is unacceptable practice? Does she acknowledge that, using the alternative methodology in the impact assessment, the net present value of deciding to close the RO early turned out to be minus £100 million? That means that we are £100 million worse off as a result of her taking that decision, instead of allowing the RO to continue. If she had had the impact assessment to hand when she took the decision, might she have made a different decision after all?
Amber Rudd
What the hon. Gentleman fails to address in his question and does not seem to absorb from the steps that we have taken to address the costs is that at the centre of everything this Government do is the impact on consumer bills. We had a commitment to limit the levy control framework to £7.6 billion by 2020. When it became apparent that we were way in excess of that, but were still meeting our renewables targets, it was right to limit the amount of money we were spending. That is why we took action quickly to do so.
Climate Change
Debate between Alan Whitehead and Amber Rudd(9 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Amber Rudd
I thank my hon. Friend, who is entirely right. Low-carbon heat is an area that we urgently need to address. We are looking in the Department at different ways of doing that. We are looking around the rest of the world, trying to establish what works, and we are taking a hard look at how to achieve what my hon. Friend rightly said is such an important way of addressing both fuel poverty and our carbon targets.
There are, of course, many Opposition Members who have an equally admirable track record in raising climate change up the agenda and in helping to put in place the practical policies that mean we are living up to our commitments. Overall, I believe that the United Kingdom can be proud of the progress made in meeting the climate change obligations that we have collectively put in place.
The carbon budget system ensures that each successive Government undertake the long-term planning necessary to meet long-term targets, rather than defaulting to short-term thinking. I pay tribute to the work of the Committee on Climate Change in providing independent advice to the Government and the devolved Administrations and in monitoring our progress. It was confirmed in September 2014 that the UK met its first carbon budget and that we were on course to meet the second and third budgets through to 2022. In the last Parliament, the Government also maintained the ambition of the fourth carbon budget. Thanks to the actions of successive Governments and the structures we have put in place, UK greenhouse gas emissions are 30% lower than the baseline set in 1990.
Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)
If we look at the detail of the fourth carbon budget and the assumptions it makes about residential building insulation and wind insulation necessary to get even to the beginning of this fourth budget, does the Secretary of State agree that we are nowhere near being able to meet those terms at the moment, and that on the basis of present policies we shall not remotely be able to do so?
Amber Rudd
The hon. Gentleman is well known for working in this field. I respect him, and have debated with him on other occasions. He has made a good point: there is definitely an issue with the fourth carbon budget. However, it is too early to give up on it yet. We will be looking at policies, and it is my firm hope that we will be able to come back and reassure the hon. Gentleman in due course.
Provisional figures show that under the last Parliament greenhouse gas emissions fell by a mammoth 15%, and that, even as the economy grew, they continued to fall. The carbon intensity of the economy as a whole fell by 6% between 2013 and 2014. Britain is demonstrating that economic growth and emissions reduction can go hand in hand.