Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew George Excerpts

Thursday 12th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Charles Hendry]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the work that he and his fellow members of the Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change have done on the proposal and on alternative counterparty models. The Government have made one approach clear in the draft Bill, but we have also made it clear that a single counterparty model could work separately. If we propose different models, we will publish a separate impact assessment.

[Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)]

4. When he plans to announce the outcome of the renewables obligation banding review.

[The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Mr Edward Davey)]

I plan to announce the outcome of the renewables obligation banding review very shortly.

[Andrew George]

To secure essential jobs and investment, the industry needs certainty, clarity and rational decisions based on evidence and not on emotion. That is especially true of wave energy in my constituency. Will the Secretary of State reassure the House that decisions will be clearly evidence-based?

[Mr Davey]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his work on promoting renewable energy in his constituency and his county of Cornwall, particularly in respect of marine energy. I can reassure him that the Government will make decisions based on the evidence. We will crunch through the more than 4,000 responses we have had—an awful lot of evidence, including some substantial new evidence—and our decisions will reflect the evidence.

--- Later in debate ---

[Charles Hendry]

Let me provide the hon. Lady with reassurances. We have sped up the programme that we inherited and brought it forward by 12 months, we have been going forward in a very collaborative approach with industry to get its buy-in to all the key decisions, and we have submitted the technical specification for European Commission approval, which is happening in two stages, with one going through now and the second shortly. We see this as a very important aspect of energy efficiency and putting consumers in power, and also for real business opportunities for large and small companies alike.

[Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)]

Energy bills are still impenetrable to many households. What progress are the Government making to ensure that energy companies improve the transparency and clarity of their domestic bills?