Annual Energy Statement

Debate between Ed Davey and Dan Byles

Thursday 31st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor produced, some time ago, a £250 million package to help energy-intensive industries—[Interruption.] The hon. Lady should wait. The first part of that package— £113 million—has state aid clearance, and £12.5 million has been paid out after 60 applications were received.

[Dan Byles (North Warwickshire) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that Labour’s dishonest price con would help Labour’s big six by hitting smaller companies the hardest? It is not supported by the managing director of Ovo, and the chief executive of First Utility, which has just 195,000 customers, has said:

“Bluntly, it could put me under”.

[Mr Davey]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is interesting that the Leader of the Opposition has switched to First Utility, the leaders of which say that his policies will put them out of business. That is how incoherent the Opposition are.

Energy Policy

Debate between Ed Davey and Dan Byles

Thursday 29th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

They are not identical; the right hon. Lady probably needs to read them in a little more detail. However, we believe that Ofgem’s are very good proposals. They were based on two years of study and will see that people, once they have expressed their preferences on how they wish to pay and so on, will be on the lowest tariff. The last Government failed to deliver on that.

[Dan Byles (North Warwickshire) (Con)]

This week Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, said three interesting things about the development of unconventional oil and gas. He called it

“the biggest change in the energy world since World War II”,

and went on:

“This is bigger even than the development of nuclear energy…This has implications for the whole world.”

Does my right hon. Friend agree?

[Mr Davey]

I do think that shale gas has implications for the whole world, although sometimes some commentators get rather expansive and over-enthusiastic. Shale gas is important. I want it developed in the United Kingdom, but we have to make sure that that is done safely and in a way that protects our environment. I believe that that can be done.