Energy Bill

Baroness Worthington Excerpts

Wednesday 6th November 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, this is a very noble cause. I myself tried to introduce a similar amendment to the first of this Government’s energy Bills. I first came across the real problem with it when I tried to draft an amendment that would make block tariffs work. They are incredibly difficult, and I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, on having got as far as he has. I must admit, though, that at the end of the day this was one of the few instances where I was actually persuaded by DECC officials that the idea was not possible and would not work—much to my regret. One of the reasons was the fact that my noble friend Lord Ridley mentioned: namely, that poor people are the ones who use a lot of electricity for their heating. It is an irony that people in fuel poverty have to use electricity for heating, so block tariffs are very difficult to use in order to get the outcomes that we want. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s arguments about this amendment, because I suspect that they will be exactly the ones that persuaded me that this scheme was not practically possible.

[Baroness Worthington (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for tabling this amendment and for his pursuit of this issue in other fora. It is correct that the way that electricity is priced at the moment is illogical: the more we consume as a whole, the higher the cost of producing the electricity. Once our demand rises, we have to bring on marginal plant, which is less efficient and more costly, pushing up the wholesale price for everyone. The people who consume the most therefore cause us to carry a cost that we should not have to bear.

It should therefore be logical that we disincentivise the bringing on of marginal plant by tariff pricing and tariff structures. However, although the idea has been raised on many occasions, the moment has never been found to make it a reality. I hope—and I think that this will be the case—that once smart metering comes into play, this will become an absolute no-brainer. At that point, when we have detailed information about each individual household’s demand across a given period of time, this will become enabled. At present, though, it is a very difficult thing to bring into practice.

Noble Lords have touched on some of the issues. One of them is the question of the variance in demand between households. It can be perfectly true that you have two identical semi-detached houses with very different energy bills, because of different socioeconomic circumstances. Someone who is at home all day will have the heating on and that will increase their bills. If you have a high occupancy rate—if you have children, for example—your energy bills will go up. It is quite difficult to identify the right point at which to say, “This is a fair use of electricity and after this we are going to increase the price”.

That said, though, it is not impossible. It should not be the case that electricity companies incentivise greater usage and reduce the rate of tariffs after a certain point of consumption. If we are not yet able to get to a fully comprehensive rising block tariff system, then at least the Government could perhaps make it clear that tariffs should not have such a regressive effect that the highest price would be for the first units of consumption and then there would be a reduction in the unit price—that should be ruled out. The Prime Minister has indicated that he has a desire to make tariffs simpler. The simplest thing would be to have one unit price for everyone and for everything. Let us start there, and if we can establish that principle and stop the incentivisation of greater consumption, that will be a step in the right direction.

I still think that there is something in this idea. We need to look at it, although it is possibly true that now is not the time. I am sure that that will disappoint my noble friend; one can always say, “Now is not the time”. However, with the advent of better technology such as smart meters and a greater understanding of demand with better data, we will be able to get there. The way that the system is currently structured is illogical, and I am sure that something like this will be introduced within the next decade. I congratulate my noble friend on being so prescient and ahead of the curve.

[Baroness Verma]

I, too, thank the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, for his amendment. The noble Lord has a long-standing interest in this matter and I understand his desire to encourage more energy efficiency and to reduce the energy bills of low-income households. We considered in the past the case for rising block tariffs. When the issue was debated during the passage of the Energy Bill 2011 we were concerned, as we are now, that they would have an adverse impact on fuel-poor households with high energy consumption. I followed very carefully the noble Lord’s argument that this would not happen, but I believe that many consumers would see their bills rise under a rising block tariff.

The Committee on Climate Change has also examined the case for rising block tariffs and concluded that they,

“should not be introduced until fuel poverty has been addressed through targeted energy efficiency improvement and other fuel poverty policy measures”.

We are addressing fuel poverty through the Warm Home Discount. This year more than 1.1 million households will receive an automatic rebate on their electricity bill of £135 and more than 2 million households will receive assistance from the scheme as a whole. As the noble Lord rightly points out, we are also tackling the poor energy efficiency of our homes through the Energy Companies Obligation and the Green Deal. Some 230,000 vulnerable and low-income households will be warmer this year because of the measures installed in their homes under ECO.

Clauses 130 to 133 are intended to enable the Secretary of State to simplify the tariff market, to increase competition in the retail domestic energy market through greater consumer engagement and to get consumers on to the best tariff for them. We have introduced these clauses to give statutory backing to Ofgem’s reforms of the retail energy market. These reforms have been developed to ensure that customers are on the cheapest tariff that is in line with their preferences with their current supplier. They will introduce a simpler, clearer tariff framework so that consumers can compare tariffs across the market more easily.

The noble Baroness mentioned smart meters. I agree with her. When people have smart meters installed, that will help them recognise the amount of energy that they are paying for at the time of use, and will inform them of when to use energy at different times of the year to get the best value out of it during the day. However, we are just rolling out smart meters now. They are not yet part of a mass rollout. So a key measure is to give consumers the ability to compare tariffs, banning complex multi-tier tariffs and requiring suppliers to structure all tariffs as a standing charge and single unit rate.

Introducing a framework for rising block tariffs would cut across Ofgem’s reforms to deliver a fairer, more transparent and competitive market. We are backing its proposals, not instructing it how to regulate the market. Ofgem is an independent regulator and is best placed to assess the regulatory changes needed. Although I suspect that he will not, I hope that the noble Lord will find my explanation reassuring, and that he will withdraw his amendment.