Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on consumer energy bills of bringing forward by one year the start of the Capacity Market.

The Capacity Market is designed to encourage competition and a low clearing price. It is technology neutral and will procure any type of capacity to meet the target at the lowest possible cost to consumers. By keeping more plant in the market, it is also likely to increase competition and drive down costs. The Capacity Market will protect consumers from higher cost spikes that would occur if our electricity supplies were less secure.