Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to respond to the consultation entitled Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes, published on 30 September 2020.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The consultation on improving the energy performance of privately rented homes closed on 8th January 2021. The Government has analysed the responses received and is considering how best to ensure the cost relating to energy efficiency improvement is fair and proportionate to landlords and tenants. The Government will publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he is taking steps to provide funding to Morlais on Anglesey for research and development into the interaction of marine mammals and tidal stream turbines after the end of 2023; and whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of ringfencing tidal steam energy in the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round Five.
Answered by Graham Stuart
There are no current plans for the Government to provide funding of this kind after the end of 2023. The Morlais project is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government and has received funding from the Welsh Government through the North Wales Growth Deal.
The Morlais project on Anglesey secured a Contract for Difference award in Allocation Round 4. The Government is currently developing Allocation Round 5 auction parameters for all technologies, including for tidal stream, taking into account evidence from stakeholders. Full parameters will be published in the Budget Notice in March 2023.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish the Government response to the consultation entitled Phasing out the installation of fossil fuel heating in homes off the gas grid, published on 19 October 2021.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government will respond to that consultation in due course.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he will include ringfenced tidal energy in the upcoming AR5 contracts for difference auction.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department is currently developing Allocation Round (AR) 5 auction parameters for all technologies, including for tidal stream, taking into account evidence from stakeholders. Full parameters will be published in the Budget Notice in March 2023.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2022 to Question 47709 on Renewable Energy, what steps he is taking to decouple charges for low carbon electricity from gas prices.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government launched the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) which is considering a range of wholesale market reforms that could help to reduce the link between the gas and electricity price.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that homeowners who contribute electricity generated by solar panels on their property to the national grid are adequately compensated by electricity companies following the rise in electricity prices charged to consumers.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) is a cost-reflective and market led mechanism and it is for suppliers to determine the value of the exported electricity and to take account of the administrative costs associated when setting their tariffs. The SEG contract that a supplier has with a householder is at a set price which is not directly linked to the wholesale market. The Government is reviewing Ofgem’s annual SEG report, which was recently published, to ensure that small-scale generators continue to have an effective route to market.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October to Question 55106 on Fuel Oil and Liquefied Petroleum Gas: Prices, when he will announce the mechanism which identifies those eligible for the £100 payment for heating oil and liquified natural gas; and how and when recipients will receive payment.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has doubled support to £200 for alternatively fuelled households, in recognition of the pressures caused by these rising fuel costs. The Government is committed to delivering this payment to households as soon as possible this Winter. The Government will announce further information on the delivery and timing of these payments in due course.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure that energy companies are providing customers with vouchers for electricity pre-payment meters under the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Suppliers should take action to encourage all traditional pre-payment customers to redeem their EBSS payment during the scheme month. Replacement credit can be issued up until the scheme closing date of 30 June 2023.
Suppliers have an obligation, and must be able to evidence, that they have attempted to make a minimum of three attempts to contact customers who have not redeemed their payment by at least two different methods – including at least one month before the expiry of the unredeemed EBSS payment. If a customer requests an expired voucher be reissued, suppliers should comply with the request.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support tidal stream projects; and if he will set a target for marine energy generation.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Tidal stream is a home-grown industry of considerable promise, and the UK remains the world leader in tidal stream generation technologies, with almost half of the world's deployment of this cutting-edge approach situated in UK waters.
The Government announced on 7 July that over 40MW of new tidal stream power has been secured in Scotland and Wales via the flagship Contracts for Difference scheme. This will quintuple the UK’s installed capacity and could treble the global capacity of installed tidal stream capacity by 2027.
It provides the industry with the opportunity to demonstrate the cost-efficiency and proof of scalability that the Government needs to see from our sources of renewable electricity.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, (a) what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing ongoing ringfenced support for tidal stream projects in the next contracts for difference scheme; and (b) what the timetable is for announcing the structure of Allocation Round 5 of that scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is currently developing auction parameters for Allocation Round 5 of the Contracts for Difference scheme, including any for tidal stream, taking into account evidence of the pipeline of available projects. The Government will publish details of these parameters ahead of the round opening in March 2023.