Energy Update

Debate between Danny Kruger and Greg Hands

Monday 5th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

As ever, the hon. Lady raises an important and telling point. It is worth reminding ourselves, as I said earlier, that businesses tend to have long-term contracts for their energy bills. Prices were lower but they are now rising. There is an advantage in being locked into lower prices for a longer term, but there is, of course, a disadvantage when that long-term contract rolls off and they have to replace it. She is quite right about that. I am happy to look into the specifics of the bar that she mentions. There is no obligation currently on energy suppliers to supply businesses, unlike their obligation to provide to consumers, but I am happy to look into the specifics of the bar that she mentions in her constituency.

[Danny Kruger (Devizes) (Con)]

There is clearly consensus across the House about the need to decouple the price of electricity from the cost of gas. I very much welcome the Minister’s remarks that that is being actively looked at in government. May I encourage him to go a little further, given that we are in this little moment of an interregnum, exploit his licence and tell us what might be the obstacles to doing that quickly and, if we wanted to do it, how fast it could be done?

[Greg Hands]

My hon. Friend invites me to go down a road of policy speculation. What I will say is that many markets and many countries are looking at this specific issue. There are various proposals out there. We are looking carefully at this issue domestically, and we are also looking to see what other countries, other markets and other jurisdictions are doing in this space.