Energy: Costs

Lord Cormack Excerpts

Tuesday 16th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Lord raises an important point, but in anticipation of someone asking this question, I have looked at the net margins of energy companies. By and large, their net margins have remained at around 3.4%, so they are not working with huge margins. Perhaps I may say once again that I want energy companies to direct people towards better tariffs if they are available or make it much easier for consumers to change suppliers. That gives consumers choice and puts energy companies in competition.

[Lord Cormack]

My Lords, can we go back to these ghastly wind farms? They produce indeterminate amounts of energy, they cost a great deal of money and they shut down when the wind blows too hard. What real justification is there for onshore wind farms?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I know that my noble friend is greatly concerned about wind farms, but perhaps I can reassure him that on 20 September last we called for evidence to see how well we are doing in terms of our targets on wind farms. I can also assure him that, by and large, we have reached our capacity for onshore farms through what we have already done and what is in the pipeline. My noble friend can rest assured that there will not be a burst of wind farms across the landscape. We are taking wind farms as part of the energy mix that this country needs.