Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the levels of gas supply in the UK between 25 February 2018 and 4 March 2018; what assessment he has made of the adequacy of those levels; and if he will review the gas storage resilience of the UK to meet severe weather demand.
Answered by Claire Perry
The 8 days between 25 February and 4 March 2018 saw temperatures across Europe fall well below their seasonal average, resulting in significant increases in gas demand. On 1st March, demand peaked at 418million cubic metres per day (mcm/d), which is about 40% higher than the demand normally expected at that time of year. Nonetheless, gas supplies into the UK were responsive, meeting demand throughout the week.
The Government published a strategic assessment of gas security of supply in October 2017 and will consider gas storage resilience, as part of its process of continual assessment of gas security of supply.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the level of gas storage capacity of the UK; and what estimate he has made of the level of gas reserve capacity currently available.
Answered by Claire Perry
National Grid publish figures on storage daily. This includes: opening stock, daily flows and available capacity. National Grid’s figures indicate that Great Britain, as of the 7th March 2018, has a maximum storage capacity of 13,188 GWh and 4,023 GWh of gas available in storage. These figures reflect the status of the market at a certain point in time and are subject to change depending on supply and demand.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the extent of (a) total gas storage capacity and (b) empty gas storage capacity in the UK.
Answered by Claire Perry
National Grid publish figures on storage daily. This includes: opening stock, daily flows and available capacity. National Grid’s figures indicate that Great Britain, as of the 7th March 2018, has a maximum storage capacity of 13,188 GWh and 9,165 GWh of available storage capacity. These figures reflect the status of the market at a certain point in time and are subject to change depending on supply and demand.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an estimate of the cost of daily standing charges on (a) electricity and (b) gas bills for (i) households and (ii) households that require a social tariff in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Claire Perry
The following table shows the daily average standing charge on standard electricity and gas bills for all domestic households from 2010 to 2017. We do not hold data on the standing charge of individual domestic tariffs. The figures are presented in 2017 real prices, calculated using Tables 2.2.4 and 2.3.4 from the Quarterly Energy Prices and adjusted to remove the effects of general inflation – data is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/annual-domestic-energy-price-statistics .
Year | Daily average standing charge on domestic standard electricity bills (pounds) | Daily average standing charge on domestic gas bills (pence) |
2010 | 0.14 | 0.29 |
2011 | 0.17 | 0.32 |
2012 | 0.18 | 0.33 |
2013 | 0.19 | 0.28 |
2014 | 0.20 | 0.26 |
2015 | 0.20 | 0.25 |
2016 | 0.19 | 0.24 |
2017 | 0.20 | 0.24 |
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what mechanisms are in place to compensate (a) households and (b) businesses for the disconnection of gas due to a shortage of available gas supply on the network.
Answered by Claire Perry
Under the gas Quality of Service Guaranteed Standards, set by Ofgem, after the first 24 hours of a gas disruption, affected householders will be compensated for time without gas. A domestic customer will receive £30 for each 24-hour period without gas, which is paid automatically through their gas supplier. Small businesses will receive £50 for each 24-hour period without gas, which will also be paid automatically through their gas supplier.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has powers to restrict above inflation increases in daily standing charges on (a) electricity and (b) gas bills.
Answered by Claire Perry
The setting of a standing charge is a commercial matter for individual energy supply companies. Typically standing charges recover the fixed costs to suppliers, such as accounting and billing, in addition to the unit rate charged for energy consumption. Suppliers are free to offer tariffs with a low standing charge or, even set the standing charge at zero to attract low energy users, with the fixed costs included in a higher unit rate which customers only pay when using energy.
The Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill will introduce an absolute temporary price cap on standard variable and default tariffs for domestic customers. The cap, set by Ofgem, will regulate the maximum amount that standard variable and default tariffs can charge, including the combined standing charge and unit rate.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the one-in-two-out approach to regulatory costs is still being applied by the Government.
Answered by Margot James
The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 requires the Government to publish a target to monitor the economic impact on business of certain changes to regulation. The target will apply for the duration of this Parliament and must be set by June 2018.
The target will inform the approach taken by the Better Regulation Executive to regulatory reform in this Parliament, including any relevant performance indicators.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what regulations the Better Regulation Executive has identified for (a) revocation and (b) amendment in order to reduce burdens on business.
Answered by Margot James
The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 requires the Government to publish a target to monitor the economic impact on business of certain changes to regulation. The target will apply for the duration of this Parliament and must be set by June 2018.
The target will inform the approach taken by the Better Regulation Executive to regulatory reform in this Parliament, including any relevant performance indicators.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the performance indicators are for the Better Regulation Executive.
Answered by Margot James
The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 requires the Government to publish a target to monitor the economic impact on business of certain changes to regulation. The target will apply for the duration of this Parliament and must be set by June 2018.
The target will inform the approach taken by the Better Regulation Executive to regulatory reform in this Parliament, including any relevant performance indicators.