Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
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 will take to ensure civil society is represented on the Energy Efficiency Taskforce.
Answered by Graham Stuart
More details on the scope and membership of the Taskforce will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Autumn Statement 2022, if he will make it his policy to publish the (a) terms of reference, (b) membership and (c) minutes of the Energy Efficiency Taskforce.
Answered by Graham Stuart
More details on the scope and membership of the Taskforce will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what stakeholders will be represented on the Energy Efficiency Taskforce.
Answered by Graham Stuart
More details on the scope and membership of the Taskforce will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the potential number of households in fuel poverty after April 2023.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The latest projections for fuel poverty in England in 2022 can be found on GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics#2020-statistics.
An updated projection of the number of households in fuel poverty for 2022 and 2023 will be produced in the 2023 annual fuel poverty statistics.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposed fast-track planning for offshore wind on the marine environment.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Fast Track process will reduce formal consenting times for high quality offshore wind farm development consent order applications from 17-months to 12-months. In the British Energy Security Strategy the Government strengthened the National Policy Statements and implemented a new Offshore Wind Environmental Improvement Package, which introduces strategic compensation, a Marine Recovery Fund and a more strategic approach to Habitats Regulation Assessments. This will allow the UK to accelerate offshore wind deployment needed to meet our 50GW by 2030 ambition, while maintaining protection and improving the natural environment.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
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 2022 to Question 55021 on District Heating: Price Caps, whether his Department has established the mechanism they will use to ensure customers on heat networks will receive the £400 payment as part of the Energy Bills Support scheme; and what his expected timetable is for when customers will receive that payment.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Heat network customers with a domestic electricity meter will already be in receipt of the EBSS. The Alternative Funding will provide a £400 discount off energy bills for the small percentage of households who do not have a domestic electricity meter or a direct relationship with an electricity supplier. Eligibility, timescales and method of delivery will be announced in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
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 2022 to Question 55021, by what mechanism heat network customers will receive support equivalent to the Energy Price Guarantee; and when those support payments will begin.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Heat network customers are benefiting from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. These customers will therefore not receive the Alternative Fuel Payment of £200, which has been designed to support households using fuels such as oil, LPG or coal.
My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer has said that the EBRS will be reformed from April 2023. The Government will bring forward a route to deliver bespoke support for on heat network consumers from this date.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) increase grid infrastructure and (b) speed up the planning consent process for energy infrastructure in the context of the Government's renewable energy targets for 2030.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Ofgem is responsible for regulating network companies, but the Government engages in and supports their work to increase grid infrastructure by speeding up approvals and bringing forward strategic investment through the price control process.
The Government will produce and publish revised National Policy Statements in due course, bring forward measures to improve the performance of the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) planning process and accelerate development consent. The Government will publish a full NSIP Reform Action Plan, as well as consultations on national policy statements and on further regulatory and guidance changes to improve the operation of the system.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to The University of Manchester’s report entitled Capturing the Carbon Opportunity published in 2022, what plans his department has to integrate carbon removal technology with existing frameworks, including the UK Emissions Trading Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In March 2022, the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) Authority called for evidence on the role of the UK ETS as a possible long-term market for both nature-based and engineered greenhouse gas removal technologies. This asked for views on possible market design, timing of inclusion and market eligibility requirements. The Authority is reviewing the responses and will respond in due course.
The Government also recently consulted on potential business models to unlock investment and enable engineered GGR projects to deploy at scale over the next decade. The consultation closed on 27th September 2022 and we are currently analysing responses.
Asked by: Alan Whitehead (Labour - Southampton, Test)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of the Office for Budget Responsibility's estimate that the administration of Bulb Energy required £6.5bn from the public purse.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The OBR figure has been forecast in accordance with usual processes. However, the £6.5bn figure only reflects the public spending implications of the Octopus transaction and does not account for the financial support that will be repaid in accordance with an agreed repayment schedule or recovered by the established shortfall direction mechanism, which means that the Special Administration Regime (SAR) will eventually be fiscally neutral. SAR costs will continue to fluctuate, driven by high energy market volatility meaning any published figures remain uncertain.