UK Nuclear Energy Programme

Tom Greatrex Excerpts

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)]

As the Secretary of State is aware, there have been severe disruptions on the railway line today between Doncaster and London, owing to a power failure, which have prevented my right hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) from being here—she sends her apologies to the House, Mr Speaker.

I thank the Secretary of State for giving me early notice of his statement and congratulate him on making it back from Hinkley this morning looking slightly less damp and dishevelled than he did earlier. At the outset, let me make it clear that we support new nuclear power in Britain as part of a balanced, diverse and lower-carbon energy mix. Of course, we will look in detail at the agreement, and those aspects of the agreement yet to be concluded, but in principle we believe that nuclear power is safe, and that it contributes to our energy security, reduces our carbon emissions and makes us less vulnerable to the vagaries of wholesale gas prices.

Today, I want to ask the Secretary of State about three aspects of his statement, the first of which is the very important one of value for money. He has announced a strike price of £92.50, of which £3 will be shared as “first-of-a-kind” costs with Sizewell C, should that development go ahead. Can he explain how that figure was arrived at, and why he believes it represents good value for money for consumers? Will he also confirm that any change to an investment contract will be published, and that any change which results in an increase in cost to consumers in the view of the panel of independent experts will be classed as a “varied investment contract” and therefore laid before Parliament for debate? EDF has also said that its £16 billion budget included a contingency fund. If that fund is not used, or if costs underrun, what mechanism will there be to ensure that compensation goes to consumers, rather than to the general Treasury pot?

Secondly, let me turn to the impact of the announcement on our environment, on the local community and for the economy. The Secretary of State will be aware that the Energy Act 2008, passed by the last Labour Government, means that before consents for new nuclear power stations are granted, the Government have to be satisfied that effective arrangements exist, or will exist, to manage and dispose of the waste they will produce. In January, although Copeland and Allerdale borough councils were in favour, Cumbria county council voted to withdraw from the process to find a host community for an underground radioactive waste disposal facility. I understand that his Department has started a new consultation exercise to find a host site, so is he satisfied that the arrangements to manage and dispose of the waste produced at Hinkley Point C are in place?

There is also agreement across the House that communities that host nationally significant infrastructure should be compensated. In July, the Government announced a package of community benefits, but those come into force only when the plant is operational and not during the construction phase, when disruption is likely to be greatest. What consideration has the Secretary of State given to the Select Committee’s recommendation, which I know is shared by Sedgemoor district council, to extend community benefit to the construction period?

The Secretary of State also mentioned the wider economic benefits of the investment. We share his desire that today’s announcement will help to create a strong British supply chain and secure highly skilled engineering, construction and operating jobs. Last week, the Government signed a memorandum of understanding allowing Chinese companies to take a minority stake in nuclear developments in Britain. Given the nuclear expertise that exists in this country, can the Secretary of State tell the House what provisions were made to allow British firms to advise on and be involved in nuclear build in China?

Thirdly, we hope that today’s announcement is the first in a series of new nuclear projects in Britain, so let me finish on the lessons of these negotiations and today’s agreement. Today’s announcement is subject to EU state aid approval, so will the Secretary of State tell the House whether he has received any indication from the Commission about whether approval is likely to be granted and in what time scale? What are the Government doing to ensure that other potential nuclear sites are developed? Does he also accept that today’s agreement shows that long-term certainty is what really matters to unlock the investment we need, not allowing overcharging to continue now? The Government say that they cannot freeze electricity prices for 20 months, but he has just set them for 35 years for companies producing nuclear power. So does he therefore further accept that when on 24 September he said that our 20-month price freeze proposal would put “investment in doubt”, today’s announcement shows him to have been completely wrong?

Finally, as this comes on the same day as npower became the third big energy company to announce another price rise, and in light of the potential costs of this agreement, does the Secretary of State now accept that it is all the more crucial that we reform the retail energy market so that it is clear, fair and transparent, and so that consumers can have confidence that prices as well as investments provide value for what is, after all, their money?

[Mr Davey]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his response and, of course, we understand that the right hon. Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) has been detained through no fault of her own. I think the power failure shows that we need this investment in our economy.

I welcome the support of the hon. Gentleman and of the Labour party. Let me go through his questions. He asked first about value for money and how the figure was arrived at. We have had a huge amount of negotiations. The hon. Gentleman will have noticed that many people thought that we would end up with £100, £97 or £95 per megawatt-hour. We have done a lot better than that—we have got the figure under £90, and I do not think that anyone thought that we would do that. We have got a good figure through hard, tough negotiations.

As for the hon. Gentleman’s question about value for money tests, he will know that as we have said on the record we have compared what we have achieved with the price of low-carbon generation and gas plus the carbon price. We believe that we will be able to show, both now and when we sign the final investment contract, that we have met that test. He asked whether any changes in the future would be published and I am sure that that will happen. It is very important that Parliament is kept abreast of those big changes.

The hon. Gentleman asked what would happen if the construction costs, including the contingency fund, were not used. If EDF and NNBG make savings on the construction plan, as projected, the good news is that we have negotiated a gain-share for the consumer. The consumer will have no pain-share: if the construction costs go higher, that risk is taken by the developer, by EDF, but if the construction costs are lower, the consumer will benefit. That has not happened before, and it is a welcome protection for the consumer.

The hon. Gentleman rightly asked about waste. I can tell him and the House that I am satisfied that arrangements are in place to deal with the nuclear waste, both in the interim and in the long term. He mentioned the consultation and that is part of that process.

The hon. Gentleman asked about community benefits and he is right that the package we announced last July comes into play only when the power station is operational. We have heard the Select Committee’s recommendation and, although I cannot prejudge our response to it, we will listen to it carefully. I will only say that EDF is already benefiting the community, investing in skills and young people in the area, and economic benefits will flow during the construction phase. EDF has already said that during the peak construction £100 million will go into the local economy every year. The local community will benefit even before the community benefit package is in place.

The hon. Gentleman asked about the memorandum of understanding and how it relates to UK companies going to China. He is absolutely right: the purpose was to ensure that UK nuclear companies, and there are many, get some benefits from exports and from working in China and other markets. That is important.

The hon. Gentleman made an important point about state aid. Of course, we were in touch with the Commission before the notification. Now we have formally notified, we will continue that contact. The Commission does not tell a member state ahead of notification whether it will grant approval—of course it does not—and it will not commit itself to a time scale. I am pleased that Commissioner Almunia has told us that a team will be in place in a timely fashion and will treat the issue with the priority it deserves.

The hon. Gentleman went on to ask how other nuclear sites are doing. I could go into a lot of detail, but let me simply give him one example. He will know that Hitachi bought the Horizon site and its nuclear reactor design is in the generic design assessment phase with the Office for Nuclear Regulation. Hitachi wants to proceed with its investments and, in due course, will enter negotiations.

The hon. Gentleman wanted to relate today’s deal with Labour’s price fix con. He was trying to argue that Labour’s price fix con must be possible if we can offer a fixed price for nuclear for 35 years. Once again, the Labour party shows its economic illiteracy. Given that the Leader of the Opposition did my job, he ought to know that even if a part of the electricity generation mix has a fixed price, the majority of generating costs remain variable and will be for some time. The fact that generating costs and wholesale costs are variable, often unpredictably so, means that prices sometimes have to change to avoid firms going bust. The fact that the Opposition’s energy price fix con cannot address this is bad news for consumers, bad news for competition and bad news for investment. It is genuinely worrying that the Opposition cannot see that.

Finally, the hon. Gentleman referred to npower’s decision today, which is extremely disappointing. I would say to npower’s customers, as I have said to British Gas customers: thanks to this Government there is a choice. Under the previous Government, who created the big six, there was not a choice of independent suppliers. There are now 15 independent suppliers taking on the big six. There is a real choice now—real competition—and that is a new development. It was not the case under Labour. So we are reforming the market in the Energy Bill, creating competition and getting a much better deal for the consumer. This is a good deal for the consumer. The only thing that would not be are the Labour party’s policies.