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155668

registered interest
date	17/11/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the outcomes of the round-table event convened by Ofgem on 29 October on price differences between various payment methods for domestic consumers of electricity and gas, particularly in relation to addressing the higher fuel costs of pre-payment meters.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of St Albans
uin	HL2852
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2014 answer text <p>There was general agreement at the workshop that payment differentials was a complex issue and that any changes to the rules would create winners or losers with no clear benefit to vulnerable groups. For example, of households who were fuel poor in England in 2012, around 48% paid for their electricity and 40% paid for their gas through direct debit and around 27% paid for their electricity and 20% paid for their gas through prepayment meters. Changing rules in favour of pre-payment meter customers would make direct debit customers worse-off.</p><p>Ofgem intend to circulate a note from the event to participants within the next week. As part of their ongoing work programme on vulnerability, they are planning a series of workshops to focus on other important issues in the future.</p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 27/11/2014 12:31:23 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	4308 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of St Albans

155375

registered interest
date	11/11/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government why detailed estimates of the impacts of energy and climate policies on the retail prices (pounds per megawatt hour) of gas and electricity are omitted from the 2014 edition of the annual <i>Estimated Impacts of Energy and Climate Change Policies on Energy Prices and Bills </i>when they have been present in all previous editions.
tabling member printed	Viscount Ridley
uin	HL2833
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2014 answer text <p>The layout of the 2014 Estimated Impacts of Energy and Climate Change Policies on Energy Prices and Bills report1 was reviewed to focus on overall bill impacts following feedback on the length of Annexes and confusion between the prices and bills tables in previous reports.</p><p>The price and consumption effects of each policy on domestic consumers, medium-sized businesses, and energy intensive users are converted into £ impacts and set out in a single set of tables in Annex D.</p><p>The results of fossil fuel price sensitivity analysis are summarised in Chapter 6.</p><p> </p><p><em><strong>[1]</strong></em><em> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills-2014" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills-2014</a></em></p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma grouped question UIN HL2834 question first answered 27/11/2014 13:03:10 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma attachment 1 file name prices_and_bills_report_2014.pdf title Est. impact of policies on energy prices & bills
tabling member	4272 label Biography information for Viscount Ridley

155376

registered interest
date	11/11/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the impacts in pounds per megawatt hour of each energy and climate change policy on (1) retail gas prices, and (2) retail electricity prices, for (a) domestic consumers, (b) medium-sized businesses, and (c) energy-intensive users in their low, central, and high fossil-fuel price scenarios.
tabling member printed	Viscount Ridley
uin	HL2834
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2014 answer text <p>The layout of the 2014 Estimated Impacts of Energy and Climate Change Policies on Energy Prices and Bills report1 was reviewed to focus on overall bill impacts following feedback on the length of Annexes and confusion between the prices and bills tables in previous reports.</p><p>The price and consumption effects of each policy on domestic consumers, medium-sized businesses, and energy intensive users are converted into £ impacts and set out in a single set of tables in Annex D.</p><p>The results of fossil fuel price sensitivity analysis are summarised in Chapter 6.</p><p> </p><p><em><strong>[1]</strong></em><em> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills-2014" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills-2014</a></em></p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma grouped question UIN HL2833 question first answered 27/11/2014 13:03:10 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma attachment 1 file name prices_and_bills_report_2014.pdf title Est. impact of policies on energy prices & bills
tabling member	4272 label Biography information for Viscount Ridley

93733

registered interest
date	16/10/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the outcomes of the round-table discussions convened by Ofgem over the summer with suppliers, consumer representatives, parliamentarians and the Government, particularly in relation to addressing the higher fuel costs imposed by pre-payment meters.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of St Albans
uin	HL2157
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2014 answer text <p>Ofgem will host a round-table event on the afternoon of 29 October on price differences between various payment methods for domestic consumers of electricity and gas. The event follows an open letter published by Ofgem on 20 May that set out the findings to a request for information to suppliers on the prices they charge consumers for different payment methods, including prepayment:</p><p><a href="https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/87924/openletterfinalrepublished.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/87924/openletterfinalrepublished.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 23/10/2014 16:22:38 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	4308 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of St Albans

89915

registered interest
date	01/09/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to encouraging energy companies to use income-differentiated tariffs as a means of addressing fuel poverty.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of St Albans
uin	HL1757
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/09/2014 answer text <p>Energy suppliers provide direct bill support for low income households through the Government’s Warm Home Discount scheme. <del class="ministerial">As the original impact assessment for the scheme made clear, the scheme grew in part out of a concern about affordability of energy bills and accessibility of appropriate tariffs for those on low incomes. The scheme is now hugely successful.</del> <del class="ministerial">This year the</del> <ins class="ministerial">The </ins>Warm Home<ins class="ministerial">s</ins> Discount will<ins class="ministerial"> increase to</ins> give eligible low-income bill payers £140 money off their energy bills, helping over 2 million people including 1.4 million of Britain’s most vulnerable pensioners.</p><p>There has been consideration of the role of differentiated tariffs as part of the Hills Review of Fuel Poverty, and in the development of Fuel Poverty: Framework for future action and Cutting the cost of keeping warm, the consultation to prepare for a new fuel poverty strategy.</p><p>We continue to monitor the impacts of the Ofgem’s Retail Market Review and wider Government action to ensure consumers are treated fairly in the energy market and are better able to the choose a deal that suits them. We expect to keep the case for further action under review as part of this.</p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 08/09/2014 08:09:35 question first ministerially corrected 15/09/2014 12:14:23 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma previous answer version 18278 answering member printed Baroness Verma answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	4308 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of St Albans

62786

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 16 June (WA 23) on energy prices, how they reconcile the Department of Energy and Climate Change's estimate in paragraph 4.3, page 28 of its February consultation on the plans for the offtaker of last resort that "Backstop PPAs [will be] available to generators from early 2016" with the statement made to Parliament on 4 November 2013 at Report stage of the Energy Act 2013 that they intended "a scheme to be in place by the time the first CfDs are signed" in late 2014 (HL Deb, col 25); and whether concerns have been raised by independent generators about the distinction between having "a high degree of clarity about the arrangements for OLR" and "a scheme being in place".
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL466
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2014 answer text <p>We are on track to introduce enabling regulations to have the OLR mechanism in place ahead of the first CfD allocation in Autumn 2014. This will include a final version of the Backstop Power Purchase Agreement (BPPA) contract terms that generators will be entitled to. Generators will therefore have a high degree of clarity about the arrangements well in advance of the first auctions. We are shortly publishing a draft version of the BPPA contract terms this week to give generators further clarity on the terms they can expect.</p><p>Whilst the OLR will be in place, generators will not be able to access a Backstop PPA contract immediately, with BPPA contracts being available from April 2016 at the very latest. In light of the time taken to commission projects and the likelihood that a PPA falls away and cannot be replaced, the period between the legislation being in place and the first BPPA contract being available is unlikely to have significant impacts in practice. This process has been tested with stakeholders, including the Offtaker of Last Resort Advisory Group, and we continue to work with Ofgem to bring forward the date when the first BPPA contracts can be awarded.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 30/06/2014 12:52:46 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

62787

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 16 June (WA 23–24) on energy prices, what assessment they have made of the time needed for suppliers to develop a conditional Contracts for Difference (CfD) powerpurchase agreement (PPA), for it to undergo an internal credit approval process, to be negotiated competitively with independent generators, and to be assessed by the generator's putative financiers before they can offer finance terms to independent generators; and what impact they consider that timeframe will have on conditional PPAs being agreed prior to the first allocation round of CfDs.
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL467
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2014 answer text <p>We anticipate that some generators will seek to establish the terms of any PPA and financing arrangements before they participate in the CfD allocation round, in order to understand better their likely costs. Agreements between generators and PPA providers could take a number of different forms, from indicative terms to a signed contract. The decision to sign a conditional PPA ahead of the auction, and the duration of any agreement, are ultimately commercial matters.</p><p>We anticipate that the Offtaker of Last Resort (OLR) will encourage competition in the PPA market both at the outset of the CfD and once any initial PPA has expired. Generators agreeing to a conditional PPA would be able to participate in the later short-term PPA market, once their initial PPA had expired; backed by the protections afforded by the OLR.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 26/06/2014 11:11:51 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

62788

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 16 June (WA 23–24) on energy prices, what evidence there is to suggest that smaller suppliers will be capable of developing a conditional Contracts for Difference (CfD) powerpurchase agreement (PPA) in time for the first CfD auctions in October 2014; and whether their reliance on the development of conditional PPAs to support the participation of independent generators is in line with the suggestion made by the Minister of State for Energy, Michael Fallon MP, on 4 December 2013 during the passage of the Energy Act 2013 that electricity market reform would "result in greater competition among PPA providers and support smaller suppliers, as generators will not have to rely on large incumbents with strong credit ratings to sell their power in the market" (HC Deb, col 970).
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL468
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2014 answer text <p>We anticipate that some generators will seek to establish the terms of any PPA and financing arrangements before they participate in the CfD allocation round, in order to understand better their likely costs. Such conditional PPAs could take a number of forms, from indicative terms to a signed contract.</p><p>In 2013, DECC officials established an industry Market Readiness group to prepare the market for offering CfD PPAs. There are now a number of PPA providers discussing terms with potential developers but these discussions are commercially sensitive.</p><p>The Offtaker of Last Resort will allow generators to develop their projects using shorter-term PPAs with smaller suppliers. We are on track to introduce enabling regulations to have the OLR mechanism in place ahead of the first CfD allocation in Autumn 2014.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 26/06/2014 11:13:10 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

62789

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 16 June (WA 24) on energy prices, in the light of the change in language used by the European Commission between its draft and final state aid guidance to reduce the distinction between "mature" and "immature", and "established" and "less established" technologies, what steps they will take to ensure that the current proposals (1) to introduce auctioning of Contracts for Difference (CfDs) for only one particular group of technologies in October 2014, and (2) to create an enduring regime which allocates CfDs in different ways to different groups of technologies beyond 2017, will not run contrary to the new guidelines, introduced after the commencement of their consultation process.
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL469
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2014 answer text <p>The EU ‘Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy 2014-2020', which were adopted in principle on 9 April 2014, set out a requirement to introduce technology neutral competition for renewable technologies, including a transitional phase, with a number of derogations. In May 2014 the Government confirmed proposals to move straight to competition for more established technologies. For less established technologies, if there is insufficient budget in a CfD allocation round to satisfy all bids, a competitive auction will apply. We believe our proposals are consistent with the guidelines.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 30/06/2014 12:50:30 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

61238

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the proposal to introduce contracts for difference auctioning has been reassessed following the European Commission's adoption of the final state aid guidelines for environmental protection and energy for 2014–2020; if so whether they specifically considered (1) the risk of the proposal failing to conform with the Commission's guidance that competitive bidding should be non-discriminatory due to the distinction the proposal makes between "established" and "less established" technologies, (2) the risk of the proposal failing to conform to the guidelines on the grounds of providing "asymmetric information" to the United Kingdom energy market, and (3) the risk of the proposal failing to conform with the Commission's guidance within General Conditions which stipulates that "the selection process should lead to the selection of beneficiaries that can address the environmental or energy objectives using the least amount of aid or in the most cost-effective way"; in each case, what conclusion they reached; and, in each case, what was the rationale forthe conclusion.
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL198
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2014 answer text <p>The move to competitive allocation of CfDs has been a long-standing feature of Electricity Market Reform. In early 2014, the Government consulted on proposals to move straight to competitive allocation for some technologies. EU ‘Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy 2014-2020' were adopted in principle on 9 April 2014. Prior to that adoption, the European Commission worked with member states on the development of the guidelines, including through draft versions and receiving comments.</p><p>Implementation of key EMR policies is subject to State Aid approval, and the Government has been in discussion with the European Commission for some time to ensure our policies comply. These conversations remain constructive and we are making the strongest possible case for our policies which we believe are consistent with the new guidelines. To maintain effective working relationships with the Commission, we do not comment publicly on the specifics of cases.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 18/06/2014 12:01:13 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley