Andrew George
Main Page: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Mr Davey
I do not think so. We had a seminar at No. 10 recently, which the Prime Minister participated in, along with myself and the Business Secretary. We heard from experts in the shale gas industry who had been working in America and looking at the major opportunities in places such as Ukraine and China. They were clear that it would take some time for shale gas to be exploited in the UK. They were also clear that we needed strong regulation to proceed and that the shale gas reserves in this country are not quite as large as some people have been speculating.
Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)
Given that so few large companies took part in last week’s big switch, does my right hon. Friend agree that we should be concerned about the responsiveness of large companies to customers’ concerns? What can the Government do to ensure that all companies engage with any such initiative in future?
Mr Davey
At least three of the big six were involved. I thought that the way in which the reverse auction was conducted by the consumer association Which? was a real success, and I am delighted that my hon. Friend noticed it. It brought a saving of £25 million to consumers who were part of that collective switch, with an average saving of £120. It was therefore a success, and I want to see more energy companies getting involved in such schemes.
Charles Hendry
The most important thing that we can do for the coal mine industry is to show that there is a continuing role for coal in the generating mix. We are all clear that we cannot have unabated coal in the mix in the future, and new plants will need to be equipped with carbon capture and storage technology. That is why the competition that we are launching here to put the United Kingdom at the forefront of the development of CCS technologies offers the best possible future for coal to have a long-term role in the energy mix going forward.
Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)
Further to the question asked by the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Gordon Henderson), Warm Front was, in my view, undermined by the extortionate charges of a small cartel of suppliers. Given that only 22 companies are so far among the providers for the green deal, can the Minister assure us that local fitters and local suppliers can be part of the programme, so that costs are competitive?
Gregory Barker
My hon. Friend has hit the nail on the head. Previous programmes were monopolistic, did not offer real choice and were not open to real competition. The green deal will change all that. We are going to have genuine competition, real choice and real ability for local players to come into this exciting market.