Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Tony Baldry and Ed Davey
Mr Davey
I hope that the hon. Gentleman is not trying to suggest that the last Government were effective in investing in electricity production, because they were very weak. There has been £45 billion of electricity investment since 2010. The investment rate is going up, not just in gas but in renewables. The first nuclear deal was struck last October. We are going across the board, and the lights will stay on under us; if Labour’s policy had continued, they would have gone out.
Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
Does not the Chinese Premier’s reconfirmation this week of Chinese investors’ willingness to invest in a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK demonstrate that the world sees the UK generally as a good place in which to invest? Does it not also show that the Chinese see the framework of the Energy Act 2013 as a good, sound basis on which to invest in energy in the UK?
Mr Davey
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The interest from around the world in the UK’s reformed electricity markets, particularly the world’s first ever low-carbon electricity market, is profound. It is not just the Chinese; there is interest from the French as well as from Japanese companies such as Hitachi and Toshiba-Westinghouse—and not just in nuclear, but across the low carbon piece.
Energy Bills
Debate between Tony Baldry and Ed Davey(10 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Davey
As a lad of Nottingham and someone who has been on a visit with the hon. Lady to a number of homes that are benefiting from the ECO scheme, I agree with her. We must ensure that communities around the country are benefiting, which is why we have increased the money for the green deal communities from £20 million to £80 million. I am happy to look at the case that the hon. Lady has raised.
Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
Does my right hon. Friend agree that if the Government had not increased cold weather payments and the basic state pension and had not protected winter fuel payments, many vulnerable people would be even worse off when facing increasing energy bills?
Mr Davey
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. One of the first acts of this Government was to confirm the trebling of cold weather payments, so that people who were on low incomes had the money when they needed it. Under the triple lock, we have seen some of the biggest ever increases in the basic state pension, which has been greatly welcomed by pensioners up and down the country. By contrast, when Labour was in power, it oversaw an increase in the state pension in one year of just 75p.
Annual Energy Statement
Debate between Tony Baldry and Ed Davey
Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
When John Wakeham and I privatised the electricity industry in 1990, we left more than 20 distributors and suppliers of energy. How is it that we ended up with only six after the last Government? Is it not a bit rich for the Labour party, which opposed privatisation and competition at that time, to call for the breaking up of the big six that it created?
Mr Davey
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The reason I want to keep debating energy is that the more that people understand the history of what has happened, the more they will realise that it is the Opposition who are to blame for the problems. They left a black hole in our energy supplies and prevented competition. We are putting that right.
UK Nuclear Energy Programme
Debate between Tony Baldry and Ed Davey
Mr Davey
Earlier this year, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and I published an industrial strategy for the nuclear industry in the UK to do just that. On the home-grown point, the danger is that if we do not produce energy in this country, whether through nuclear or renewables, we will be increasingly dependent on imports of gas from the other side of the world. That would leave our economy vulnerable to the supply of that gas and to vulnerable wholesale gas prices, which could hit consumers badly. That is why we need more home-grown, low-carbon energy.
Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
Will my right hon. Friend confirm that at £89.50, the strike price for Hinkley will be lower than the strike prices for offshore and onshore wind?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Tony Baldry and Ed Davey
Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
19. How he will ensure that the forthcoming Energy Bill makes provision to enable consumers to receive the best deal on their energy.
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Mr Edward Davey)
We have three ways to help people lower their energy bills. The first way is to help people save energy through policies such as the carbon emissions reduction target, Warm Front, the green deal and the energy company obligation. The second is to help people switch to get better deals; we will do everything we can, including through the energy Bill, to get people on to the lowest tariffs. The third is to help low-income and vulnerable households with their energy bills directly, through policies such as the warm home discount.
Mr Davey
I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we need to do more to help the most vulnerable, who are facing the problems of rising electricity and gas bills. One argument that I am putting forward with collective switching is that if we can get community groups and local authorities involved in helping residents in their areas to buy energy together, they will be able to reach out to those vulnerable groups. In announcing “Cheaper Energy Together”, a £5 million competition in which local authorities and community groups can apply to set up these community switching schemes and community buying schemes, I made it clear that the only condition successful schemes had to meet was that they had to show they were helping people who are in fuel poverty—the most vulnerable in our society. I do see this as a route to helping the people whom the hon. Gentleman wants to help.
Sir Tony Baldry
Does my right hon. Friend support Ofgem’s proposals to limit each supplier to four tariffs per fuel, per meter and per payment type? Does he agree that tariff simplification, greater transparency and increased competition should be the starting points for energy market reform?
Mr Davey
My hon. Friend is right that the Ofgem package contains many attractive proposals. I am not going to say today that we agree with every one of them, but we are studying them. It is right for my Department and my Ministers to study the proposals carefully, because this is a crucial area. I reassure him that we are attracted to many of those ideas, and we will be putting forward our options for consultation and for the Bill.