Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Lord Barker of Battle

Friday 20th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

Very quickly, on the point about green issues, may I point out to my hon. Friend in case he missed it—I am sure that he did not—something that was buried at the back of the Budget, which was the announcement of marine-protected areas in Pitcairn? This is the largest ever marine conservation programme embarked on by any Government—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. The right hon. Gentleman has made one speech; I do not need another one. Interventions must be short, and I am sure that Mr Yeo is coming to the end of his speech, as he has just gone past the 10 minute-mark.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Lord Barker of Battle

Thursday 16th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)]

Certainly not; I do not recognise that figure at all. In fact, new research published today says that over 80% of people who have a green deal assessment are extremely satisfied with it, and only 5% of those who have an assessment—over 117,000 have been undertaken so far—do not go on to install some of the measures that it recommends. We are not only assessing but implementing, and Labour Members need to get over it.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

We need a little brevity to get through topical questions.

Energy Bill

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Lord Barker of Battle

Tuesday 4th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)]

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Government new clause 12—Pilot scheme for electricity demand reduction.

New clause 2—Strategy for electricity demand reduction—

‘(1) The Secretary of State must within 12 months of the passing of this Act publish a strategy setting out policies to achieve a reduction in demand for electricity of at least 103 TWh by 2020 and 154 TWh by 2030.

(2) The strategy must include an assessment of the cost effectiveness of the policies included in it.

(3) Before publishing the strategy the Secretary of State must consult such persons as in his opinion may have information that will assist him in drawing up the strategy.

(4) The Secretary of State must—

(a) implement the strategy; and

(b) report to Parliament every year on progress.’.

Amendment (a) to new clause 2, at end add—

‘(5) Nothing in the strategy shall rely upon the use of the price mechanism to reduce demand.’.

Amendment 1, in clause 10, page 8, line 8, at end insert—

‘( ) Section 41(4)(a) of the Energy Act 2008 (“specified maximum capacity”) is amended as follows: “Specified maximum capacity” means the capacity specified by the Secretary of State by order, which must not be less than 10 megawatts.’.

Amendment 42, page 8, line 8, at end insert—

‘( ) Regulations must—

(a) place a duty on the Secretary of State and the Authority to promote new generation capacity from distributed generation schemes; and

(b) define “distributed generation schemes”.’.

Amendment 43, page 8, line 8, at end insert—

‘( ) In section 41(2)(a) of the Energy Act 2008, at end insert—

“() establishing, or making arrangements for the administration of, a scheme of financial incentives to encourage the distributed generation of electricity;”.’.

Amendment 44, page 8, line 8, at end insert— In section 41(2)(b) of the Energy Act 2008, at end insert—

“() requiring or enabling the holder of a distribution licence to make arrangements for the distribution of electricity generated by distributed generation;”.’.

Amendment 45, page 8, line 8, at end insert—

‘( ) In section 41(2)(c) of the Energy Act 2008, at end insert—

“() requiring the holder of a licence to make arrangements related to the matters mentioned in paragraph () or ().”.’.

Amendment 46, page 8, line 8, at end insert—

‘( ) Section 41(4)(a) of the Energy Act 2008 (“specified maximum capacity”) is amended as follows—

“specified maximum capacity” means the capacity specified by the Secretary of State by order, which must not exceed 50 megawatts.’.

Amendment 47, in clause 15, page 10, line 13, at end insert—

‘(d) conferring on the Secretary of State the power to establish an auction market (the “green power auction market”) in which generators are entitled to offer, and holders of supply licences are entitled to bid for, electricity generated from renewable sources.

(e) the the Secretary of State must exercise the powers in subsection (d), and take such other steps as they consider necessary, for the purposes of ensuring that—

(i) the green power auction market begins to operate when the first CFD is made and does not cease to operate until expiry of the last CFD that has been made; and

(ii) the reference price under a CFD entered into by a generator who is a party to any agreement made through the green power auction market is based on the price payable to the generator under that agreement,

(iii) in this section, “supply license” means a licence under the section 6(1)(d) of the Energy Act 1989.’.

Amendment 34, in clause 21, page 12, line 41, leave out ‘this section’ and insert ‘subsection (1)’.

Government amendment 100.

Amendment 35, in clause 21, page 13, line 6, at end insert—

‘(4A) The Secretary of State must within one year of the passing of this Act make regulations establishing a scheme or schemes to make payments for the purpose of rewarding the installation of energy saving measures.

(4B) Regulations under subsection (4A) are referred to in this Chapter as “demand reduction regulations”.

(4C) Prior to the making of regulations under subsection (4A), the Secretary of State must publish a report setting out the total potential for energy demand reduction and the extent to which this potential will be achieved by Government policies including—

(a) the scheme or schemes, and

(b) other relevant programmes, regulation or expenditure.’.

Amendment 36, in clause 22, page 13, line 13, at end insert—

‘(1A) Demand reduction regulations must make provision about demand reduction payments.’.

Amendment 37, page 13, line 21, at end insert—

‘(2A) Subject to any further provision made under this Chapter, a demand reduction payment is an instrument by virtue of which—

(a) an energy user is paid for reducing the demand for energy or investing in a technology which can be shown to reduce the demand for energy either permanently or for a specified period;

(b) all electricity suppliers may be required to make payments (“demand reduction payments”) to or for the benefit of these users.’.

Amendment 38, page 13, line 23, at end insert—

‘(3A) Provision included in regulations of demand reduction payments for the purposes of subsection (2A) may make provision about the meaning of “energy user”.’.

Amendment 39, page 13, line 41, at end insert—

‘(4A) Provision included in regulations of demand reduction payments by virtue of subsection (2A) may include provision about—

(a) the terms of a demand reduction payment;

(b) the circumstances in which, and the process by which, a demand reduction payment may or must be made;

(c) the persons who may be paid;

(d) the circumstances in which and technologies for which payments may be made;

(e) the number and size of payments;

(f) the means by which demand reduction payments are to be calculated;

(g) a person or body who is to administer the settlement of demand reduction payments (“a settlement body”);

(h) the enforcement of the terms relating to demand reduction payments;

(i) the resolution of disputes relating to a demand reduction payment payment;

(j) the circumstances in which a demand reduction payment may be terminated or reclaimed or varied;

(k) the circumstances in which a demand reduction payment may be assigned or traded;

(l) the means for monitoring and verifying the energy reduction for which demand reduction payments are made.’.

Amendment 40, page 14, line 6, at end insert—

‘(5A) Provision falling within subsection (4A) includes provision—

(a) conferring on the national system operator the function of issuing demand reduction payments;

(b) about any conditions that must be satisfied by or in relation to a person before that person may receive a demand reduction payment;

(c) about any matters in relation to which a person must satisfy the national system operator before the person receives a demand reduction payment.’.

Amendment 41, page 14, line 9, at end insert—

‘(6A) Provision made by virtue of this section may include provision requiring a person to consent to the inspection of plant or premises, either before or after that person receives a demand reduction payment.

(6B) Subject to the provisions in section 24, the Secretary of State must within six months of the making of demand reduction regulations establish a fund drawn from capacity payments for the purpose of issuing demand reduction payments.’.

Government amendment 135.

[Gregory Barker]

We now turn to the topics of electricity demand reduction and route to market. I shall speak in favour of the new clauses and amendments in the name of the Secretary of State and I thank hon. Members for tabling the other new clauses and amendments in this group, prompting debate on this vital set of issues.

I will start by setting out the Government’s approach to electricity demand reduction. Making good my pledge in Committee, the Government have brought forward new clauses 11 and 12 and amendments 100 and 135, which, for the very first time in our energy history, would allow energy saving projects to compete for new investment on an equal footing with power stations. It has long been recognised that in many cases it is cheaper, as well as greener, to save electricity rather than generate it. However, the coalition’s radical legislative proposals for large-scale energy efficiency are a double win—a win not only for the green agenda, but for hard-pressed consumers worried about rising bills.

The fact is that successive Governments have failed to grab the opportunity to get units of saved power, or “negawatts” as they are sometimes called, to compete with traditional megawatts. Thanks to this reforming Energy Bill, the era of negawatts has finally arrived. We already have a number of important policies aimed at driving greater efficiency, but these measures mean that we can go further. As I said to the Financial Times way back in September 2010, we need to create new markets for electricity efficiency projects to bring in the scale of new investment needed that is commensurate with the challenges and opportunities.

Following our consultation on options to promote electricity demand reduction, we concluded that a new financial incentive would be the most effective way of delivering a step change in the efficient use of electricity. The most cost-effective way to achieve this, without cannibalising the budget for renewables, is to include demand reduction in our proposed capacity market, and that is achieved through Government amendment 100. Hon. Members and their constituents can now be reassured that while we have a massive, multi-billion pound, low-carbon infrastructure programme ahead of us, we will not be building expensive new energy plants unnecessarily where cheaper alternatives for energy efficiency are available.

Delivering EDR through the capacity market will let us achieve three key objectives: targeting reductions at more expensive peak times; securing value for money because it will set megawatts against potentially cheaper “negawatts”; and bringing permanent demand reduction projects into line with shorter-term demand-side response measures to enable more effective, joined-up delivery of energy efficiency across the board. The approach of delivering EDR through a capacity market is proven—it is already being done in the United States of America—but our approach is more visionary and will certainly be much more ambitious. Government new clause 12 will provide a spending power to enable our approach to be tested via a large pilot, or pilots, to better understand, among other things, the complexity of the issue and the scale of the potential. Government new clause 11 and Government amendment 135 allow the Secretary of State to appoint and make payments to an alternative delivery body to National Grid for the capacity market. If it is decided that National Grid is not best placed to carry out the EDR elements of the scheme, then we will have this legislation ready.

I am most grateful to the hon. Members for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead) and for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) for their thoughtful amendments, which were tabled prior to the Government’s amendments. I am also grateful for their consistent and constructive, as well as passionate, advocacy of this agenda. I particularly thank the hon. Member for Southampton Test. He and I have long been proponents of action in this area, but his expertise in and technical understanding of these issues are, I think, universally acknowledged to be unsurpassed in this House. I hope that the House will join me in recognising his contribution. Amendments 34 to 41 seek to include demand reduction in a capacity market. In the light of the amendments that I have tabled, which achieve that objective, I hope that hon. Members will feel comfortable withdrawing their amendments.

New clause 2, with its amendment, would require the Secretary of State to publish a strategy to reduce a stated amount of electricity demand by 2020 and 2030 while requiring no use of the price mechanism to reduce demand. I welcome the principle behind the proposal. However, let me point out that as well as establishing the first ever Energy Efficiency Deployment Office within my Department, the Government have published a number of seminal documents, including the first ever comprehensive Government energy efficiency strategy, which will be updated again later this year. We have also published DECC’s energy and emissions projections and, most recently, the Government response to our EDR consultation. These documents provide a comprehensive view of the Government’s approach, which was encapsulated at the launch by the Prime Minister of the first ever energy efficiency mission earlier this year.

Solar Power (Feed-in Tariff)

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Lord Barker of Battle

Wednesday 23rd November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order, Minister. Has the hon. Gentleman finished his intervention? Right, now it is the Minister’s turn. I think that we will decide, thank you.

[Gregory Barker]

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is wrong. The impact assessment relates to no change until April next year, and then there will be degression, as planned by the Leader of the Opposition when he was in government and set up this poorly conceived scheme last year. So, as I say, I am afraid that he is incorrect on that point.

We have had some extremely sensible contributions. The one from my hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire (Glyn Davies), in which he flagged up the impact that the scheme will have on not only fuel bills but the fuel-poor, was absolutely right. Too often the voice of the fuel-poor is distorted. Yes, it is great for the few thousand who may benefit from solar panels in social housing, but what about the other 5.5 million whom Labour left in fuel poverty, who will not benefit but would still face the prospect of £80 on their electricity bills? Go and tell the other 5.5 million people who will be left out how they are going to find the extra £80 if we do not act now.

My hon. Friend the Member for Dudley South (Chris Kelly) was spot-on in his analysis and my hon. Friend the Member for Loughborough (Nicky Morgan) was right. I am afraid there is absolutely no sign of anything that even looks like a “Sorry” from Opposition Front Benchers for the mess they made of setting up the scheme. My hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton) was right: we need to learn the lessons from Labour’s failed scheme, particularly because although the feed-in tariff scheme supports solar, it also supports a whole range of other technologies. We must not forget that. We want a diverse, innovation-rich, decentralised energy economy, and there is a lot more to the feed-in tariff scheme than solar alone, important though that is.

My hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood made excellent points about Germany. He was spot-on when he said that we need to pull solar into the mainstream of the green economy, rather than leaving it as a bubble in a silo at one side. That is why the launch of the green deal will bring solar into the mainstream. That is a very exciting proposition. The hon. Member for North Cornwall (Dan Rogerson) also made some excellent points, and I share the view that we need to have a consistent regime. [Hon. Members: “They’re all on your side.”] The hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex) listed and spoke at length to Opposition contributions. I have very limited time, so I am going to mention those from my hon. Friends first.

However, I recognise that there is genuine concern about the implementation of the reference date of 12 December, and that it will be a real challenge for a lot of companies. We did not do this lightly. We have had to move quickly in order to protect the budget. Unfortunately, if we had not done so we would have had to do what Labour did in the past and close the scheme completely. We will not do that. We are protecting the scheme for the long term and for sustainability. This is a genuine consultation. We are constrained by the budget and by demand, which is going through the roof, but at the same time, I am listening carefully to the many sensible representations—