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Retail Petrol Industry
Jackie Ballard: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the retail petrol stations which he has visited since January 2000 to discuss matters affecting their businesses; and if he will make a statement. [147046]
Mrs. Liddell: The Department keeps in touch regularly with representatives of the petrol retailing industry, and such discussions would include factors affecting business performance.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the present policy of the EU is on vertical control in the retail motor fuels industry. [146975]
Mrs. Liddell: New EC competition rules covering supply and distribution agreements containing vertical restraints came into effect on 1 July 2000 (see Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2790-1999 of 22 December 1999 and Commission Notice 2000/C 291-01 of 13 October 2000). The new rules supersede previous sector-specific rules, including some which applied to the retail motor fuels industry.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what his policy is on vertical pricing control by oil companies in the retail motor fuels market; and if he will make a statement; [146969]
- (2) what is his policy on vertical control in the UK retail motor fuels industry. [146974]
Dr. Howells: Under UK competition legislation, the Director General of Fair Trading is responsible for monitoring markets and considering allegations of anti-competitive behaviour and has power to act against harmful vertical agreements.
The Director General of Fair Trading reported his conclusions concerning the wholesale petrol market on 21 November 2000. He found no evidence of anti- competitive behaviour but said that he will continue to monitor this market very closely.
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Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to meet representatives of the retail petrol industry and oil companies to discuss a code of practice; and if he will make a statement. [146967]
Mrs. Liddell: My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary with responsibility for consumers and corporate affairs, will be meeting representatives of the independent petrol retail sector and oil companies shortly to discuss a code of practice.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how the value and tax of the vapour which passes from retail petrol stations' tanks back into the fuel tanker when motor fuels are delivered is accounted for. [146972]
Mrs. Liddell: Evaporative losses occurring between loaded petrol from a storage terminal and delivering it to a retail site have been minimised by the use of vapour recovery systems. Under EC Directive 94/63/EC all storage and distribution terminals delivering more than 50,000 tonnes per annum of petrol already operate vapour recovery equipment, and all other terminals will have to comply by 2001 or 2004 (depending on the volume of their deliveries). In December 1996, the directive was implemented in England, Scotland and Wales through regulations and directions made under Part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. It is being implemented separately in Northern Ireland through the Industrial Pollution Control (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.
Prior to this legislation, vapours will have been lost. These vapour losses were part of the delivered volume of petrol. The oil companies at the point at which oil leaves the refinery pay excise duty on mineral oils. As vapour recovery systems are put in place after the duty point, duty has been already paid on the vapour when it is delivered in a tank to the retail site. Since implementation of vapour recovery, vapours are returned to the delivery
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tanker. These are not accounted for as they represent less than 0.2 per cent. of delivered volume and consist mainly of butane rather than petrol.
Renewable Energy
Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will estimate in percentage terms the amount of electricity generated from (a) onshore windfarms, (b) offshore windfarms, (c) tidal generation, (d) hydro-electric generation and (e) biomass generation for (i) Wales, (ii) England and (iii) Scotland. [146475]
Mrs. Liddell: The information requested is as follows and relates to 1999. Information on electricity generation is not available separately for Wales and England and so separate percentages cannot be calculated. However, it is estimated that about 60 per cent. of onshore wind generation in England and Wales was in Wales, over 85 per cent. of hydro generation in England and Wales was in Wales, but less than 1 per cent. of generation from biomass in England and Wales was in Wales. There was no tidal or offshore wind generation in 1999.
| England and Wales | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|
| Onshore wind | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Hydro electricity | 0.1 | 10.4 |
| Biomass | 1.2 | 0.1 |
Source:
DTI and ETSU estimates
Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish a list of pending applications for windfarm developments in (a) Wales, (b) England and (c) Scotland, giving their (i) location and (ii) proposed output in Kw hours. [146474]
Mrs. Liddell: A list of proposed windfarm developments awaiting planning decisions is provided in the table. Declared net capacity in MW is provided for each proposal, since this rather than projected output is the basis on which NFFO and SRO contracts are awarded.
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Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will estimate in percentage terms the amount of electricity generated from all renewable sources in (a) Wales, (b) England and (c) Scotland. [146476]
Mrs. Liddell: Information on electricity generation is not available separately for Wales and England and so separate percentages cannot be calculated. In England and Wales together in 1999 it is estimated that about 1.5 per cent. of electricity was generated from renewable sources, and in Scotland about 10.8 per cent. In the UK as a whole 2.8 per cent. of electricity generation was from renewable sources.
Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action his Department is taking to support the development of biomass energy. [146472]
Mrs. Liddell: To date, the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO) and the Scottish Renewables Orders (SRO) have been the chief means through which the Government have stimulated the development of renewable energy capacity in the UK. In total 32 biomass projects, totalling 255 MW capacity, have received NFFO/SRO contracts. To date, seven of these projects, with a total capacity of 72 MW have been commissioned. These include the Arbre (8 MW short rotation coppice) and Ely (36 MW straw) power plants.
The Government are currently considering the responses to the recent preliminary consultation on the renewables obligation. The obligation is the key mechanism for achieving the UK target of 10 per cent. of electricity being supplied from renewables in 2010, subject to the cost to consumers being acceptable. It is proposed that biomass will be an eligible source of renewable electricity under the obligation. The Government are also analysing responses
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to the consultation on the new opportunities fund proposals for £50 million capital grants to bring forward early energy crop and offshore wind projects. In addition, the Government are proposing to exempt electricity from renewable sources, other than large-scale hydro, from the climate change levy. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has also announced support of £30 million over seven years towards establishment grants for short rotation coppice and miscanthus and aid to help short rotation coppice growers establish producer groups.
The Department's new and renewable energy programme has allocated a budget of £2 million in 2000-01 to support biomass research and development projects. This is expected to rise to £2.8 million in 2001-02. Priority areas for biomass projects are the supply chains for energy crops and agricultural and forestry residues and the adoption of advanced technologies for the conversion of biomass into electricity and heat.
Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of electricity generated in each of the county council areas in Wales was from renewable sources. [146477]
Mrs. Liddell: Information at country council area level is not centrally available and could not be collected without disproportionate cost.
Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish a list of all windfarm sites in operation in (a) Wales, (b) England and (c) Scotland, giving their (i) location and (ii) output in Kw hours. [146473]
Mrs. Liddell: A list of windfarm sites in operation is provided in the table. Declared net capacity in MW is shown for each site and annual output in Kw hours where figures are available.
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Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the effect the fall in electricity forward agreement wholesale generation prices will have on the additional costs of the Government's renewables obligation; and if he will make a statement. [146744]
Mrs. Liddell: The DTI consultation document issued in October 2000 estimated that the cost of the renewables obligation would be up to £600 million by 2010. This represents about 3.7 per cent. of the total amount paid by all electricity consumers in Great Britain in 1998.
Our proposals for the obligation include a buy-out price which would limit the absolute cost (in £ millions) of the obligation to electricity consumers. Our current proposal for that buy-out price (3 p/kWh) was made against the background of wholesale generation prices being expected to be around 2 p/kWh, broadly equivalent to the current price in forward markets.
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