Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and John Robertson

Thursday 19th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)]

T8. The Secretary of State will be well aware that he promised me at the last Question Time that he would come back to me on the report on vulnerable customers that I produced with the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee. Is this going to be another one of the Government’s unfulfilled promises, or will he come forward as soon as possible with a reply to this important report on how to ensure that vulnerable people will be taken care of when they most need help?

[Mr Davey]

I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman asked that question. He knows that I have read the report, because I have talked to him about it. I have told him in this Chamber that I wanted to respond to it. I thought that the reply had winged its way to him. If it has not, I shall chase it up. Let me say to him and the House that I read his report and thought it was very good.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and John Robertson

Thursday 5th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I enjoyed the first half of that question, but it deteriorated into inaccuracy rather rapidly. I am afraid that the facts are against the right hon. Gentleman. Green deal assessments have been carried out for more than 445,000 people, and figures show that more than 70% of those people have subsequently installed energy efficiency measures. Furthermore, as a result of the combination of the green deal and the energy companies obligation, more than 1 million homes had benefited from such measures by the end of November. I should have thought that the right hon. Gentleman would welcome the huge success of a scheme that is permanently reducing the energy bills of so many people, and I might have hoped that he would welcome the fact that the private rented sector regulations that we are introducing today will help many tenants in his constituency.

[John Robertson]

Energy efficiency has done absolutely nothing for people who are in fuel poverty. Estonia is the only country in Europe with a higher proportion of its population in fuel poverty than Britain. I invite the Secretary of State—and I mean this helpfully—to come to my constituency, so that I can show him exactly what I am talking about. He obviously does not believe anything that he hears from Opposition Members, but if he comes to Glasgow, we can meet and I can show him.

[Mr Davey]

I am always keen to listen to the hon. Gentleman. As he knows, I have read the report that he wrote on prepayment meters and their users, and am responding to it. However, his analysis of fuel poverty was wrong on at least two counts. First—as he will see when we publish our poverty strategy shortly—the energy companies obligation, along with other measures that we have taken, has already helped many fuel-poor households during the current Parliament, Those measures are a significant step forward. Secondly, the way in which we are reforming those measures is helping even more people.

The hon. Gentleman suggested that Estonia was the only EU country with a higher proportion of people in fuel poverty than Britain. I do not know whether he has looked at the way in which the EU and individual EU member states compile fuel poverty statistics, but I do not think that it enables him to reach that conclusion.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and John Robertson

Thursday 18th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I expect any figures from the Committee on Climate Change to be correct, but of course the ones my hon. Friend quotes do not tell the full story of our policies, which was told by my response to him. My hon. Friend just does not get the green energy opportunity, but in the spirit of Christmas let me cheer him up by telling him that the green energy savings I mentioned come partly from regulations—the type of Government intervention he dislikes so much. Worse still for my hon. Friend, his constituents are saving money, thanks to green regulations from the European Union.

[John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

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

The most significant development for my Department since the last DECC oral questions has been the climate change agreement secured in this year’s talks in Lima last week. British leadership on the European Union’s position on climate change helps to secure an ambitious 2030 target for EU cuts in greenhouse gases. This European leadership has been significant in accelerating political momentum into the Lima talks and beyond, through to the crucial Paris summit on climate change next year.

[John Robertson]

I congratulate the Secretary of State on what happened in Lima. Let us hope that when we get to Paris we can solidify all the things that were talked about.

Secretary of State, I sent your Department, Ofgem, the chief executive officers of the big six companies and many other interested groups a copy of a report that I did for the Energy and Climate Change Committee on how to help the safety of vulnerable people at times of need. Everyone except your Department and Ofgem has replied: why? All the others have contributed to a voluntary code of practice, and I am happy about that. Why cannot DECC and Ofgem put people before political point-scoring?

[Mr Speaker]

I do not have a Department and I have not failed to reply, but if someone has I am sure he or she will take responsibility.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and John Robertson

Thursday 19th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising the issue of fuel poverty, because I do look at the statistics and we are focusing very much on that. It is worth noticing that fuel poverty went up under the previous Government, but under this Government it has gone down by 5% according to the latest figures. It is interesting that the figures have gone down under both the old definition and the new one.

Right hon. and hon. Members might want to understand why we brought in a new definition of fuel poverty. The old definition, which was introduced by the previous Government, was so ineffective that it described the Queen as being in fuel poverty in some years. We are targeting fuel poverty, and we are spending more on tackling fuel poverty than the previous Government. We have a good record, and we want to do more.

[John Robertson]

The Secretary of State once again manipulates the figures, and I think it is a bit of a con. He thinks that the Labour party’s policy is a con to restructure the energy market. Does he not agree, however, that the real con is the fact that the companies can sell their own energy to themselves? Does he not care about people in fuel poverty?

[Mr Davey]

I think I have proved that I certainly do care, because we have done a lot more than the previous Government. Let me take up the point about the wholesale market. The previous Government did absolutely nothing; they created the big six that sell energy to each other. [Interruption.] Opposition Members do not like it, but it is a fact. Under this Government, Ofgem has brought in the market maker obligation, which creates the transparency that the Opposition were asking for. The Opposition failed, but we have succeeded.

--- Later in debate ---

[John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)]

T3. The Secretary of State will be aware that an article in the Daily Mail at the end of last month said that British Gas workers “who doubled bills” were “treated like celebrities” and given trips to Monaco and Rome, plus other things, and that they targeted churches, charities and elderly people because they were easy targets. Does he think it is right for a company to be able to do that, and what is he doing about it?

[Mr Davey]

Of course, that is completely wrong and when I have my next meeting with the management of British Gas I will bring it to their attention and make my views very plain.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and John Robertson

Thursday 16th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)]

13. What steps he is taking to increase levels of competition in the wholesale energy market.

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

There are two main initiatives to increase competition in the wholesale energy market led by Ofgem, which we have underpinned with new powers in the Energy Act 2013. First, Ofgem has worked with the industry to increase the amount of electricity traded in the “day ahead” market, with very encouraging progress. Over the past 12 months, over 50% of electricity has been sold on the day exchanges, compared with just 6% in 2010. Secondly, Ofgem’s new reforms—most notably, the market maker obligation—should be rolled out from 1 April 2014, which will force the big six to publish prices and require them to buy and sell electricity at those prices in the forward markets. That will increase liquidity, transparency and competition.

[John Robertson]

I thank the Secretary of State for that answer, but even he will agree that the biggest problem, particularly for the poorest in society, is cost. The energy companies that generate the power are getting 20% profit on generation, selling the electricity to themselves and then selling it on to customers in retail and getting anything between 4% and 6% profit. Surely that cannot be right. Is it not time we broke up the generation and retail sides of the business and stopped those companies dealing with themselves and undercutting the poorest members of society?

[Mr Davey]

I can agree with the hon. Gentleman on the cost issue and that we need reform in the wholesale market because of the vertically integrated model, but I have to remind him and Opposition Members that that model for the big six was created under the previous Government, and we are tackling the issue—

Energy Bills

Debate between Ed Davey and John Robertson

Monday 2nd December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

When I was asked that question on the two previous occasions mentioned by the hon. Gentleman, I replied that one of the components of the energy company obligation has not been working, namely the rural sub-obligation of the carbon saving community obligation. We are reforming that to try to make sure that it works better for rural areas. We are doing an awful lot for people in rural areas, not least through the renewable heat incentive, which will be launched next March or April. We have not announced the actual date, but it is designed to help people who are off the gas grid.

[John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)]

I do not know whether the Secretary of State is being conned by the big six or whether he thinks he is conning us, but I know one thing: the poor are the ones who will suffer more than anybody else. What is the Secretary of State doing to those energy companies that force prepaid meters on people who can hardly afford to pay their bills and who, because they are on a prepaid meter, get themselves cut off and who may then die as a result of poor weather? What does his statement do for those people?

[Mr Davey]

It is worth pointing out to the hon. Gentleman, first, that disconnections are at an historical low and, secondly, that he is wrong about the impact of the statement for the fuel-poor. It is actually very good news for the fuel-poor: not only are we maintaining the programmes as previously planned, but we are extending them for two additional years, which one would have thought the Labour party would welcome.

Energy Prices and Profits

Debate between Ed Davey and John Robertson

Wednesday 4th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

On the Committee’s proposals about whether Ofgem should pursue the BDO recommendations on accounting transparency, the right hon. Lady will have to wait until we publish our response to the Committee. However, I disagree strongly with her that Ofgem is not using its powers. It is certainly using its powers under us, which is why we have the retail market review delivering the tariff simplification that Labour failed to introduce, and why we are seeing reform proposals for the wholesale market, which Labour failed to do.

[John Robertson]

rose—

[Mr Davey]

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman who is a distinguished member of the Energy and Climate Change Committee.

[John Robertson]

This reinvention of history is an absolute disgrace and you do this place no favours whatsoever. You have stated in front of the Committee that Ofgem is not doing the job it should be doing, and said that you were going to do something about it. We are still waiting.

[Mr Davey]

I always find the hon. Gentleman to be an interesting colleague when I come before the Committee, and with interesting questions. We will respond to the Committee’s report. Of course it is right for colleagues to have criticisms of Ofgem, but the question is what they are going to do about it. Do they want to spend lots of time abolishing the regulator completely, or do they want what we want, which is to make it stronger and give it tougher powers? We have a much better record. We have not just relied on the regulator. Through our collective switching pilot, which we will report on in the autumn, we are trying new ways to help get customers and consumers—especially the most vulnerable consumers—a better deal.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and John Robertson

Thursday 13th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his question. I know that he did an awful lot of work on this issue himself. The Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr Foster), is working on it and, when we discuss it as a Government, we will make our views clear. Zero-carbon homes are very important.

[John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)]

T2. The Secretary of State will have seen that the big six have laid the blame for the recent price rises on the wholesale prices and Government policies. Given that there is alleged corruption in the pricing of gas and that we have got to the stage where the energy companies do not think that it is their job to worry about whether they put their prices up or not, will the Secretary of State get Ofgem to start to pay its way and look at what is happening to prices and profits in the gas industry?

[Mr Davey]

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s support for Ofgem’s role, which is not a view shared by his Front-Bench team. Ofgem and the Financial Services Authority are undertaking investigations to make sure that, if there has been manipulation of the gas markets, it is tackled in the strongest possible way. We will have to await the results of their investigations.

Energy Policy

Debate between Ed Davey and John Robertson

Thursday 29th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)]

May I give the Secretary of State some advice? He would gain a lot more cross-party support if stopped this petty point-scoring.

The right hon. Gentleman did not mention poor and vulnerable customers in his statement. They are the customers who do not talk to the energy companies and who need people to go and see them. What will he do to ensure that representatives of the energy companies go and find those vulnerable people so that they can help them?

[Mr Davey]

The hon. Gentleman always gives me a courteous and charming welcome when I appear before the Select Committee of which he is a distinguished member. However, I did refer to vulnerable customers in my statement. They are absolutely at the heart of our policy and at the heart of my concerns as I develop that policy. I have made it clear to the energy companies that I expect them to work hard, as the Government are working hard, to ensure that we reach out to people in fuel poverty.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and John Robertson

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

The hon. Lady is right; we will do everything we can, including through legislating in the energy Bill, to get people on to the lowest tariffs. We are examining the retail market review that we have just had from Ofgem, which contains a number of excellent ideas, and we will be putting forward options on this issue, including legislation in the Bill.

[John Robertson]

The Secretary of State will know that one of my pet hates is the lack of attention paid to vulnerable people and their bills. Will he consider legislation to ensure that the energy companies actively find those people to help them rather than use mealy-mouthed words that mean absolutely nothing and then do nothing to find them?

[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.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Davey]

If I may, Mr Speaker, I should like to pay tribute to the great work that my hon. Friend did at the Department in a whole range of sectors and thank him for the support he gave me. He is absolutely right that countries around the world, even those that are richer in oil and gas supplies than ours, are investing in renewable energy, and I think we should continue with that. We should make it clear that this is one of the best places in the world to invest in renewable energy.

[John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

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

Since my Department’s previous Question Time, I have attended the pre-COP ministerial climate change talks in Korea. In addition, we have announced the winners of the record-breaking 27th North sea licensing round and the shortlist for our £1 billion carbon capture and storage competition. We have put in place the framework for our flagship green deal energy efficiency programme. We have welcomed the news of Hitachi’s major investment in new nuclear power stations in Britain. Energy UK has reported that energy investment in the UK is running at a 20-year high, including record investment in renewables. As you know, Mr Speaker, I intend this month to introduce the energy Bill, which will reform the electricity market, provide long-term certainty to investors, and ensure that British households and businesses enjoy affordable, secure and clean electricity supplies.

[John Robertson]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his short answer. He knows of my great support for nuclear energy and that I would like it to help to reduce our carbon emissions, but we have to respect the public’s concern about radioactive waste. What does he plan to do to ease people’s concerns in the realm of waste?

[Mr Davey]

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s question. He will know that we have made it clear that new nuclear investors need to be responsible for the decommissioning costs and disposal of their waste. That is part of the deal—they must meet those financial obligations. In addition, as I said earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron), we are working with a number of communities, particularly in west Cumbria, on a geological disposal facility.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and John Robertson

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

The uncertainty surrounding climate change, and surrounding all technologies, is such that it would be irresponsible not to pursue every possible low-carbon technology. The hon. Gentleman is right to suggest that renewables have a positive future, as does solar power. We propose to deliver an additional 620,000 installations at a cost of just £500 million by 2015—that is, to deliver nearly three times as many installations as were delivered under the old scheme, at a third of the price.

[John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)]

9. What recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the effect of potential Scottish independence on energy policy.

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

I have had no recent discussions with the Scottish Government on the effect of potential Scottish independence on energy policy. The UK Government’s position on the independence debate is clear: Scotland is stronger in the UK, and the UK is stronger with Scotland in it.

[John Robertson]

I think that a few people will have been slightly disappointed by the Secretary of State’s answer. According to evidence given to the Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change by Peter Atherton of Citigroup Global Markets, investment in Scottish renewables in an independent Scotland would be “highly questionable”. Given that other companies are also saying that they are withholding investment, should not a referendum on Scottish independence be held now rather than later, for the good of energy in this country?

[Mr Davey]

The hon. Gentleman knows the position of Her Majesty’s Government. He knows that we would like a referendum to be held sooner rather than later. We are very committed to ensuring that there is investment in the UK’s energy infrastructure, whether it takes place in Scotland, England, Wales or Northern Ireland. However, some people are saying that uncertainty about an independent state is putting off some investors, and that is one reason for thinking that the independence referendum should be held sooner rather than later.