Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which Government Department is responsible for enforcing The Trading Schemes Act 1996.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Trading Schemes Act 1996 amended Part XI (pyramid selling and similar trading schemes) of the Fair Trading Act 1973. The 1973 Act, as it now stands, does not confer an express enforcement duty on any particular body. The Department for Trade and Industry has previously led on enforcement of the 1973 Act, and its functions have now transferred to the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with National Grid on the potential effect of reducing the level of transmission network embedded benefit received by distributed generators on security of supply.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Network charging is a matter for Ofgem, as the independent regulator, and it is leading the review of embedded benefits related to Transmission Network Use of System charges. The Department has received a number of stakeholder representations regarding embedded benefits, and we have made Ofgem aware of these. Proposals for changing the embedded benefits regime are currently being progressed through an open industry process, and it is likely that Ofgem will undertake a further consultation and impact assessment in early 2017, but will make a decision on approach when they receive the final modification report. We will engage with Ofgem as part of its assessment process to ensure that Government policy interests are taken into account, including aspects such as the potential effect of reducing the level of embedded benefits on the renewable energy sector, electricity storage, household and business electricity costs (including industrial manufacturing), and security of supply.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Ofgem on the potential effect of reducing the level of transmission network use of system embedded benefit received by distributed generators on industrial manufacturing competitiveness.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Network charging is a matter for Ofgem, as the independent regulator, and it is leading the review of embedded benefits related to Transmission Network Use of System charges. The Department has received a number of stakeholder representations regarding embedded benefits, and we have made Ofgem aware of these. Proposals for changing the embedded benefits regime are currently being progressed through an open industry process, and it is likely that Ofgem will undertake a further consultation and impact assessment in early 2017, but will make a decision on approach when they receive the final modification report. We will engage with Ofgem as part of its assessment process to ensure that Government policy interests are taken into account, including aspects such as the potential effect of reducing the level of embedded benefits on the renewable energy sector, electricity storage, household and business electricity costs (including industrial manufacturing), and security of supply.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of reducing the level of transmission network embedded benefit received by distributed generators on the renewable electricity sector.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Network charging is a matter for Ofgem, as the independent regulator, and it is leading the review of embedded benefits related to Transmission Network Use of System charges. The Department has received a number of stakeholder representations regarding embedded benefits, and we have made Ofgem aware of these. Proposals for changing the embedded benefits regime are currently being progressed through an open industry process, and it is likely that Ofgem will undertake a further consultation and impact assessment in early 2017, but will make a decision on approach when they receive the final modification report. We will engage with Ofgem as part of its assessment process to ensure that Government policy interests are taken into account, including aspects such as the potential effect of reducing the level of embedded benefits on the renewable energy sector, electricity storage, household and business electricity costs (including industrial manufacturing), and security of supply.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of reducing the level of transmission network embedded benefit received by distributed generators on the electricity storage sector.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Network charging is a matter for Ofgem, as the independent regulator, and it is leading the review of embedded benefits related to Transmission Network Use of System charges. The Department has received a number of stakeholder representations regarding embedded benefits, and we have made Ofgem aware of these. Proposals for changing the embedded benefits regime are currently being progressed through an open industry process, and it is likely that Ofgem will undertake a further consultation and impact assessment in early 2017, but will make a decision on approach when they receive the final modification report. We will engage with Ofgem as part of its assessment process to ensure that Government policy interests are taken into account, including aspects such as the potential effect of reducing the level of embedded benefits on the renewable energy sector, electricity storage, household and business electricity costs (including industrial manufacturing), and security of supply.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of reducing the level of embedded benefit on the cost of the capacity market in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Network charging is a matter for Ofgem, as the independent regulator, and it is leading the review of embedded benefits related to Transmission Network Use of System charges. The Department has received a number of stakeholder representations regarding embedded benefits, and we have made Ofgem aware of these. Proposals for changing the embedded benefits regime are currently being progressed through an open industry process, and it is likely that Ofgem will undertake a further consultation and impact assessment in early 2017, but will make a decision on approach when they receive the final modification report. We will engage with Ofgem as part of its assessment process to ensure that Government policy interests are taken into account, including aspects such as the potential effect of reducing the level of embedded benefits on the renewable energy sector, electricity storage, household and business electricity costs (including industrial manufacturing), and security of supply.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of reducing the level of embedded benefit on household electricity costs.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Network charging is a matter for Ofgem, as the independent regulator, and it is leading the review of embedded benefits related to Transmission Network Use of System charges. The Department has received a number of stakeholder representations regarding embedded benefits, and we have made Ofgem aware of these. Proposals for changing the embedded benefits regime are currently being progressed through an open industry process, and it is likely that Ofgem will undertake a further consultation and impact assessment in early 2017, but will make a decision on approach when they receive the final modification report. We will engage with Ofgem as part of its assessment process to ensure that Government policy interests are taken into account, including aspects such as the potential effect of reducing the level of embedded benefits on the renewable energy sector, electricity storage, household and business electricity costs (including industrial manufacturing), and security of supply.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what gigawatt capacity of gas or diesel reciprocating engines won 15-year contracts in the first two T4 Capacity Market auctions.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Around 0.7GW and 0.9GW of reciprocating engines won 15-year agreements in the four-year ahead Capacity Market auctions in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the relative efficiency of combined cycle gas turbines and reciprocating gas and diesel engines.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Department last published estimates of the efficiency of different technologies in 2013 [1]. As the design of many of these technologies is rapidly changing, we expect to publish an update of the evidence in due course.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-generation-cost-projections
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) number of gas or diesel reciprocating engines and (b) generating capacity likely to qualify in the T4 Capacity Market auction.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The prequalification results for the 2016 four-year ahead Capacity Market auction have been published on the Electricity Market Reform Delivery Body’s website[1]. Around a quarter of the pre-qualified capacity is new-build, and nearly half of this is from combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs). Approximately 6.1GW of reciprocating engines (existing and new) have also prequalified.
The competitive nature of the auction means it is difficult to predict accurately the specific technologies and projects that will win agreements. CCGTs and gas reciprocating engines differ with respect to their cost and revenue profiles, with both technologies able to play a valuable role in the electricity market – CCGTs are highly efficient at providing baseload generation, whereas gas reciprocating engines are highly flexible and useful for helping balance the electricity system. Both will also compete against new interconnection, storage and demand-side response bids.
My department has been working – as have Ofgem and Defra – to address potential distortions in the wider market and so ensure all projects compete on a level playing field.
A mix of new build technologies, in addition to existing capacity, could win, with competition bearing down on the auction cost to deliver value for money for the consumer.
[1] https://www.emrdeliverybody.com/CM/prequalification.aspx