Draft Contracts for Difference (Allocation) (Amendment) Regulations 2026

Edward Morello Excerpts

Tuesday 9th June 2026 General Committees

[Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Stringer. I will leave the Minister to respond to all the inaccuracies in the shadow Minister’s speech. The purpose of the draft regulations is not to alter the underlying policy objectives of the CfD scheme but to improve the administration and operation of the allocation process. As the number of applications has increased significantly in recent allocation rounds, the complexity of assessing those applications has also grown.

The three principal changes introduced by the draft regulations are all positive. Allowing NESO to correct certain administrative errors that it may make during the assessment of an application should reduce the risk of projects being incorrectly assessed due to procedural mistakes. Permitting NESO to consider additional documentary evidence or information when reviewing first-stage appeals from applicants whose projects have initially been deemed to be non-qualifying should ensure that decisions are based on the fullest possible information and that applicants are treated fairly. Finally, the draft regulations clarify how pending applications should be treated where eligibility decisions remain outstanding at the point at which the allocation process must move forward. This follows operational experience from allocation round 7 and provides greater certainty for future rounds.

The Liberal Democrats support reforms that strengthen and improve the operation of the CfD scheme and accelerate the transition to cleaner and cheaper renewable energy. We will continue to support the expansion of fixed-price renewable contracts to break the link between electricity prices and gas prices, but although we support the draft regulations, we believe that further reforms of the CfD framework should be considered, including extending the lifetime of CfD contracts from 15 to 25 years, and moving all older renewables obligation contracts on to the CfD scheme.