Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tessa Munt and Charles Hendry

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt]

Thank you very much, indeed, Sir.

The Minister will know of my concerns about the long-term impacts of both the Hinkley Point project and the National Grid’s proposals to put pylons across the Somerset Levels, when we would naturally prefer that it was done underground. Has the Minister had distinct discussions about the crucial importance of business rate retention for the benefit of the local communities? Will he meet me and representatives from local authorities in my area to discuss this further?

[Charles Hendry]

The humour arose because I inadvertently sat on the Secretary of State, which shows our commitment to work seamlessly together in this coalition! My hon. Friend makes an important point. We recognise that EDF has already committed about £90 million for a section 106 agreement, but we recognise, too, the need for greater signals for the long-term benefit of the community from those who deliver nationally important projects.

Electricity Transmission (North Somerset)

Debate between Tessa Munt and Charles Hendry

Thursday 22nd March 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Charles Hendry)]

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox) for securing a debate on this important issue. I am grateful that he has done so. I agree with him that the need for, and impact of, electricity transmission infrastructure is, inevitably, a complex and sensitive issue. So I welcome the opportunity to explain the need for upgrading the existing transmission network, and to clarify the approach to deciding where and how new infrastructure is delivered and how this relates to North Somerset, in particular. I hope that I can also reassure him that many of the changes he has been calling for are already being put in place by this Government.

The Government are committed to meeting the UK’s climate change targets and maintaining energy security. Achieving those combined objectives represents a major challenge. The United Kingdom is increasingly dependent on fossil fuel imports, leaving us much more exposed to risks from rising global demand, limitations on production, supply constraints and price volatility. At the same time, we expect to lose about a quarter of our existing electricity generation capacity by 2020, as old or more polluting generating plant closes.

My right hon. Friend rightly referred to the future costs of energy, and that is certainly an important consideration, however security of supply and reducing the carbon impact of generation are also important factors. That is why we need a mix of energy going forward. It is not for the Government to prescribe how much of each generation source is required, but we are setting the framework for delivering the appropriate energy mix through, for example, our proposals for electricity market reform.

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s support for nuclear generation. I wish to take the opportunity to reiterate its vital role in securing our energy future—we want it to be part of the future energy mix. The UK has everything to gain from being the No. 1 destination to invest in new nuclear. Nuclear is the cheapest low-carbon source of electricity around, so it keeps bills down and the lights on.

[Tessa Munt]

rose—

[Charles Hendry]

I will give way in a moment, but I want to respond to a further point raised by my right hon. Friend about the potential golden age for gas with shale gas emerging. For the United Kingdom, most of that gas would need to be imported, as our own resources decline. So we, too, need to look at how we can harness our own low-carbon electricity resources, such as nuclear and renewables. Putting off building new generation has got us into the mess we are in, where the previous Government identified that the lights could be going out around the end of this decade. We cannot afford to delay any longer in securing the investment in new capacity.

[Tessa Munt]

It is very kind of the Minister to give way. I am on record as being a little more resistant to nuclear power, mainly because of my concerns about the waste. I think that a number of community benefits could be put in place by companies such as EDF. They would be of much more significance to the community. Undergrounding or putting cables under the sea might be examples of that. I accept completely that I am not going to be able to stop Hinkley all on my own, but that is my point.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tessa Munt and Charles Hendry

Thursday 26th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)]

On Tuesday the Institution of Engineering and Technology is due to publish its long-awaited report on the undergrounding of electricity transmission lines. Given that 1,000 new pylons would have a significant effect on the natural environment and the landscape, what steps has the Secretary of State taken to ensure that the study considers the wider economic benefits of undergrounding to tourism, particularly in my part of Somerset, and the lifetime maintenance costs of undergrounding compared with using mile upon mile of pylons?

[Charles Hendry]

It is a very important study. As part of the process of understanding whether the grid should be under or above ground, we need to start with an assessment of the real costs of undergrounding and overgrounding. This authoritative study is the most dedicated of its kind ever carried out and makes an important contribution to the debate. It will not answer all the questions, but it is an important element.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tessa Munt and Charles Hendry

Thursday 20th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Charles Hendry]

As the hon. Lady well knows, the winter fuel allowance was introduced by the last Government. Had it not been for the fact that—as one of her colleagues who was then a Minister pointed out—there was no money left, we might have been able to consider some of these matters further. However, we have implemented the policy of the last Labour Administration, and in the meantime we are trying to ensure that people check their bills for accuracy, insulate their homes, and look for better arrangements to which they might switch. That makes evident sense, because it can bring significant benefits, and it should not be dismissed, because it will help many of the hon. Lady’s constituents.

[Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)]

What has been done for customers with prepayment meters and keys? Their bills are more expensive per unit, and as they are not sent a bill there are limited opportunities for the energy companies to communicate with them, and so little choice is offered to them.

[Charles Hendry]

There is evidence, which Ofgem is gathering, that people on prepayment meters are paying less now than they were in the past. One reason we have been keen to take forward the smart meter programme is to ensure that people get absolute accuracy in their billing. That programme is furthest advanced in Northern Ireland, and people on prepayment meters there pay less than people on normal tariffs.

National Policy Statements (Energy)

Debate between Tessa Munt and Charles Hendry

Monday 18th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Charles Hendry]

Thank you for your strictures, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will be very observant of them in considering which interventions to take.

My hon. Friend does make an important point. We are working with communities that have volunteered to take forward some of this work to see whether there are appropriate locations for a waste disposal facility, and we are committed to making this happen. We have expressed an ambition that we should have such a facility open 10 years earlier than previously planned—by 2029 rather than at the end of the 2030s. I hope that that will show to him and others our commitment in this area.

On the renewables national policy statement, we do not specify areas in which to locate wind farms, nor have we placed limits on generating capacity in each area, although, as in all cases under the Planning Act 2008, it will be open to the Infrastructure Planning Commission—or, through the Localism Bill, to Ministers—to refuse an application for consent if it considers that the adverse impacts outweigh the benefits. To complement the electricity generation national policy statements, policy statement EN-4 addresses requirements for gas and oil infrastructure and EN-5 addresses those for electricity networks. Changes in the pattern of supply and demand, and shifts in technology mean that we will need more of both those types of infrastructure in the coming decades.

Electricity transmission networks most familiarly mean overhead lines supported on pylons, and it is only that type of connection that requires Planning Act consent. Considerable concern has been expressed about the impact on landscapes of an increasing number of networks. The overarching NPS and the electricity networks NPS make it clear that developers should consider undergrounding or subsea cables for transmission networks. The electricity networks NPS also explains that although it would be preferable for grid connections to be applied for at the same time as the generating infrastructure it is associated with, there are circumstances where this may not be economically sensible. We have also stated that the Holford rules should be followed when developers are planning the routes of proposed overhead lines. That actually strengthens the policy, because before this NPS the use of the Holford rules by developers was voluntary.

[Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)]

I hear what the Minister says. I hope that once the IPC has some guidance, perhaps from the failure of the KEMA study, Sir Michael Pitt and the IPC will have some other way of considering the undergrounding and subsea options on the basis of costs that are realistic and that they will be judged against the work that has been done, both in this country and abroad.

[Charles Hendry]

I could sense that my hon. Friend was going to intervene even before she had risen to her feet, because she has been such an assiduous campaigner on these issues. That work is being taken forward. We want very robust evidence about the alternative costs, and I hope that she is reassured by my words about the need to consider alternatives.

The sixth NPS is on new nuclear power stations. It sets out the issues to be considered as part of the planning process where new nuclear power stations are proposed; a number of other matters are, of course, considered under other regimes. It also identifies the eight sites that we have concluded are potentially suitable for new nuclear development. That provides an important degree of clarity for industry and communities over the next few years. However, any application to build a nuclear plant on those sites still needs to go through the same rigorous processes as any other proposal under the Planning Act. The nuclear NPS also clarifies how the IPC should consider any issues regarding waste during its examination of an application and the role of the regulators and their relationship with the IPC. In addition, we have set out how applications for non-listed sites are treated by the IPC.

Domestic Heating Oil

Debate between Tessa Munt and Charles Hendry

Wednesday 9th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt]

I would like to draw attention to some of my constituents who took the trouble to join an oil co-operative in a rural area, but still got hit by this problem. I was contacted, and I would like the Minister to look at the letter that I forwarded to his office. It was from a couple of pensioners who wrote to point out that they would have had to spend between three and three and half months’-worth of their pension money on fuel over the year. That makes a mockery of what is happening in this market.

[Charles Hendry]

I will certainly look into those matters, and I hope that the hon. Lady has also referred them to the Office of Fair Trading, because that would provide exactly the sort of evidence that it is looking for to contribute to its investigation of this market.

I have been extremely concerned about the many representations that I have received from hon. Members on both sides of the House over the past few weeks, which clearly showed me that the market was not working as we would expect it to do. People who could not afford to pay those bills simply had to make a choice about whether to go without heating or without something else at a very difficult time of the year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tessa Munt and Charles Hendry

Thursday 16th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)]

Will the Secretary of State join me in welcoming the news of National Grid’s announcement yesterday that it will consult residents in the levels and moors in Somerset, Suffolk’s Stour valley and other parts of the country on undergrounding electricity power cables rather than using pylons? Will he congratulate residents on their peaceful and persistent campaign, which will ensure that residents in rural areas benefit from the technology that is taken for granted in urban areas, where undergrounding is standard practice?

[Charles Hendry]

I do indeed congratulate National Grid on undertaking a public consultation on whether the cost of undergrounding is acceptable to the public. I also welcome the research being carried out by the Institution of Engineering and Technology, because people in areas affected by new pylons need to be absolutely convinced of the relative pricing of overgrounding and undergrounding.

National Policy Statements

Debate between Tessa Munt and Charles Hendry

Wednesday 1st December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Charles Hendry]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. The £1 billion is specifically and only for that project. As I said, that is more than any Government anywhere in the world have allocated to a single project. The additional plants will be funded either by the levy introduced in the Energy Act 2010, or from general taxation. We are looking at the best way forward in terms of deliverability and the Treasury is examining the issue. The funding of projects 2 to 4 is separate from the funding of project 1, which has the £1 billion available to it.

The revised renewables NPS has taken particular account of comments on biomass sustainability for generating stations using biomass as fuel. We have also revised the text regarding noise from onshore wind farms, which is different from general industrial noise, so a specific assessment methodology is used to take that into account.

The method of assessing noise from a wind farm is described in “The Assessment and Rating of Noise from Wind Farms”, known as ETSU-R-97. The report recommends noise limits that seek to protect the amenity of those living close to wind farms. The recommended noise levels are determined by a combination of absolute noise limits and noise limits relative to the existing background noise levels around the site at different wind speeds.

Policy document 4 relates to gas supply and oil pipelines. We have clarified that the gas supply infrastructure and gas and oil pipelines NPS covers only oil and natural gas pipelines and not CO₂ pipelines, which will be an important matter in relation to carbon capture and storage development. We have also added a new section describing the impacts on gas emissions due to the flaring or venting of gas.

Policy paper 5 relates to electricity networks. We have tried to make sure that Government policy on undergrounding and the need to treat each application case by case is expressed more clearly. I welcome the decision by the Institute of Engineering and Technology to make an authoritative investigation of the costs of undergrounding, particularly in relation to the issues that the hon. Member for Wells (Tessa Munt) has raised, so that we can have a clear fact-based assessment of the different costs involved.

[Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)]

rose—

[Charles Hendry]

I thought that might encourage the hon. Lady.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tessa Munt]

Thank you. Will that investigation examine the cost of under-sea infrastructure as well? I understand that the project will look at networks not just underground, but under-sea. Is that correct?

[Charles Hendry]

That is my understanding of the report. We are all keen to have a fact-based scientific assessment of the relative costs. I know that in the hon. Lady’s constituency and many others there has been great concern and a need to know the costs of different ways of dealing with the issues, so I hope the report will examine the under-sea aspects as well.

[Tessa Munt]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[Charles Hendry]

I shall give way again to the hon. Member for Wells and deal with both issues together.

[Tessa Munt]

How can I and my constituents be assured that the study is wholly independent and is not in any way informed or directed by National Grid?

[Charles Hendry]

I would hope that the nature of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and its track record for independence and fact-based assessment, would be sufficient to assure everyone that a thorough approach will be taken. There is no doubt in any of our minds that if anybody tried to steer its conclusions one way or the other it would publicly require them to go away. I am absolutely satisfied that the process will be independent and robust, but in due course the institute will publish the full report so that it can be peer-reviewed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tessa Munt and Charles Hendry

Thursday 1st July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt (Wells) (LD)]

9. What his policy is on the construction of electricity transmission lines in designated landscapes; and if he will make a statement.

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Charles Hendry)]

It is for transmission network companies to put forward proposals for new transmission lines. The regulatory price control and planning processes then determine the appropriate balance between the need, costs and impacts of transmission lines in each location. Each case has to be considered on its merits.

[Tessa Munt]

I thank my hon. Friend for his reply. Is he aware that the people of Wells in particular and Somerset generally—some 26,000 people—are hugely dependent on tourism? That is inextricably linked with the environment, the landscape and people’s health, and even though a large area of my constituency has the potential to become the 17th world heritage site, potential is not enough in itself to protect people from the environmental vandalism, attendant health risks and other matters that come with placing 152-ft pylons across the landscape.

[Charles Hendry]

My hon. Friend made those points very effectively in her eloquent maiden speech yesterday, on which I congratulate her. I know that she and her constituents will make active representations to National Grid during its consultation process. That is absolutely the right way for her to take her concerns forward, and I urge her to take every opportunity to do so.