Lord Elton
Main Page: Lord Elton (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Baroness Verma
We have enough capacity here. As the noble Lord is fully aware, Ofgem has worked very hard to ensure that the balanced reserves are in absolutely the right place. Yes, our margins have tightened somewhat, but that is not unusual; it has happened in the past. We currently have four gigawatts of interconnection. We are looking, through the least regret scenario, to introduce another five gigawatts of interconnection. Noble Lords should be reassured that this Government are taking that very seriously.
Baroness Worthington (Lab)
My Lords, the Minister is correct to say that the lights are not in imminent danger of going out. Interconnectors are increasing and delivering, demand for electricity is going down and gas prices are softening, so there is no imminent danger. However, we now find ourselves in a strange situation where we are paying old polluting coal stations to stay open at the same time as paying to close them. When will the Government address that anomaly?