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121

 

House of Commons

 
 

Tuesday 4th March 2008

 

Public Bill Committee

 

New Amendments handed in are marked thus Parliamentary Star

 

Other Amendments not tabled within the required notice period are marked thus Parliamentary Star - white

 

Energy Bill


 

Note

 

The Amendments have been arranged in accordance with the Order of the

 

Committee [5th February 2008].

 


 

Clause 41

 

Question proposed, that the Clause, as amended, stand part of the Bill.

 

 


 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

31

 

Clause  42,  page  38,  line  7,  at end insert—

 

‘(d)    

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority,

 

(e)    

relevent local authority.’.

 

Steve Webb

 

Martin Horwood

 

41

 

Clause  42,  page  38,  line  7,  at end insert—

 

‘(d)    

the Nuclear Liabilities Financing Assurance Board (NLFAB).’.


 
 

Public Bill Committee: 4th March 2008                  

122

 

Energy Bill, continued

 
 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

32

 

Clause  42,  page  38,  line  14,  at end insert—

 

‘(d)    

relevant local authority.’.

 

Steve Webb

 

Martin Horwood

 

45

 

Clause  42,  page  38,  line  21,  at end add—

 

‘(11)    

The Secretary of State must not approve a funded decommissioning programme

 

if it includes any proposal to limit the liabilities of the operator, or a body

 

corporate associated with the person who submitted the programme, should cost

 

estimates change.’.

 


 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

33

 

Clause  45,  page  39,  line  32,  at end insert—

 

‘(d)    

relevant local authority.’.

 


 

Steve Webb

 

Martin Horwood

 

42

 

Clause  46,  page  40,  line  13,  at end insert—

 

‘(d)    

the Nuclear Liabilities Financing Assurance Board (NLFAB).’.

 


 

Steve Webb

 

Martin Horwood

 

46

 

Clause  49,  page  42,  line  7,  after ‘may’, insert ‘at any time and at least once every

 

five years’.

 

Malcolm Wicks

 

27

 

Clause  49,  page  42,  line  18,  leave out ‘the Secretary of State determines’ and insert

 

‘the Secretary of State has reason to believe’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

This amendment alters the threshold that the Secretary of State must meet in order to exercise his

 

powers to gather information for the purposes of making a decision as to whether or not to propose

 

a modification to a programme.

 



 
 

Public Bill Committee: 4th March 2008                  

123

 

Energy Bill, continued

 
 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

34

 

Clause  50,  page  44,  line  10,  at end insert—

 

‘(d)    

the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management,

 

(e)    

the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority,

 

(f)    

the relevant local authorities.’.

 

Steve Webb

 

Martin Horwood

 

43

 

Clause  50,  page  44,  line  10,  at end insert—

 

‘(d)    

the Nuclear Liabilities Financing Assurance Board (NLFAB).’.

 


 

Steve Webb

 

Martin Horwood

 

40

 

Clause  51,  page  44,  line  29,  at end insert—

 

‘(3)    

Regulations may establish a Nuclear Liabilities Financing Assurance Board

 

(NLFAB) to provide independent scrutiny and advice on the development,

 

approval, implementation, modification and maintenance of funded programmes

 

for the designated technical matters mentioned in section 41(5).

 

(4)    

The NLFAB shall—

 

(a)    

be appointed by the Secretary of State;

 

(b)    

report to Parliament annually on the implementation of all funding of

 

designated technical matters as specified in approved funded

 

programmes;

 

(c)    

review all programmes on a five year cycle, including coverage of all

 

designated technical matters specified in approved funded programmes,

 

estimates for costs for all matters under section 41(5) and of security

 

provided in connection with those costs;

 

(d)    

give advice on alternative arrangements where designated technical

 

matters are not specified in an approved funded programme.’.

 


 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

36

 

Clause  53,  page  45,  line  22,  after ‘indictment’, insert ‘in a case of dishonesty,’.

 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

35

 

Clause  53,  page  45,  line  23,  leave out ‘2’ and insert ‘5’.

 



 
 

Public Bill Committee: 4th March 2008                  

124

 

Energy Bill, continued

 
 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

37

 

Clause  56,  page  46,  line  38,  leave out ‘or misleading’.

 


 

Steve Webb

 

Martin Horwood

 

44

 

Clause  59,  page  47,  line  30,  at end insert—

 

‘(d)    

the Nuclear Liabilities Financing Assurance Board (NLFAB).’.

 


 

Steve Webb

 

Martin Horwood

 

39

 

Clause  63,  page  50,  line  14,  at end insert—

 

‘“disposal” for solid nuclear wastes (including nuclear materials declared as

 

waste) means emplacement in a long term storage facility;’.

 

Malcolm Wicks

 

2

 

Clause  63,  page  50,  line  18,  at end insert ‘or Northern Ireland legislation’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

This amendment ensures that for the purposes of interpretation for the nuclear waste and

 

decommissioning provisions in the Bill, where references are made to an enactment, Northern

 

Ireland legislation is included where appropriate and relevant.

 


 

Malcolm Wicks

 

3

 

Clause  65,  page  52,  line  36,  at end insert—

 

‘(5)    

In subsection (4) “enactment” includes an instrument made under an enactment.’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

This amendment ensures that for the purposes of the provisions about financial security for

 

decommissioning of offshore renewables installations in the Bill, references to an enactment

 

include secondary legislation.

 


 

Malcolm Wicks

 

4

 

Clause  69,  page  57,  line  35,  at end insert ‘or Northern Ireland legislation’.

 

Member’s explanatory statement

 

This amendment ensures that for the purposes of the provisions about financial security for

 

decommissioning of oil and gas installations, where references are made to an enactment,


 
 

Public Bill Committee: 4th March 2008                  

125

 

Energy Bill, continued

 
 

Northern Ireland legislation is included where appropriate and relevant.

 


 

John Robertson

 

28

 

Clause  73,  page  62,  line  26,  leave out from ‘all’ to end of line 27 and insert

 

‘existing apparatus, works and associated services necessary for the existing and future

 

operation of such pipe-line or network of a similar nature with a third party.”’.

 

John Robertson

 

30

 

Clause  73,  page  62,  leave out lines 31 and 32 and insert—

 

‘(d)    

separating, purifying, blending, odorising or compressing upstream gas

 

for the purpose of—’.

 

John Robertson

 

29

 

Clause  73,  page  63,  line  6,  leave out from ‘all’ to ‘and’ in line 7 and insert ‘existing

 

apparatus, works and associated services necessary for the existing and future operation

 

of such pipe-line or network of a similar nature with a third party”,’.

 


 

Steve Webb

 

Martin Horwood

 

22

 

Page  69,  line  10,  leave out Clause 78.

 


 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

47

 

Parliamentary Star    

Clause  85,  page  75,  line  8,  at end add—

 

‘(3)    

This section does not apply to electricity display devices.

 

(4)    

In this section, “electricity display device” means a device that can be attached to

 

a meter board in order to provide information on the amount of electricity being

 

used.’.

 



 
 

Public Bill Committee: 4th March 2008                  

126

 

Energy Bill, continued

 
 

New Clauses

 

Smart meters

 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

NC1

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

The Secretary of State shall make regulations which require smart meters to be

 

installed for gas and electricity in all homes by the end of a specified period of ten

 

years from the date on which the regulations are made.

 

(2)    

In this section a “smart meter” means a gas or electricity meter with two-way

 

communication capabilities including communication capability to a display

 

which illutstrates household usage and cost per unit consumed.

 

(3)    

Regulations made under this section must be made within a period of 12 months

 

beginning on the date on which this Act is passed.’.

 


 

Information on ETS allocations

 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

NC2

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

Companies involved in the generation of electricity must publish information in

 

their Annual Reports on the amount and value of any allocation they have

 

received from the EU ETS and the amount that has been paid for such an

 

allocation.

 

(2)    

Companies failing to publish the information required under subsection (1) shall

 

be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding

 

level 5 on the standard scale.’.

 


 

Repayment in cases of over-charging

 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

NC3

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

The Secretary of State shall by regulations make provision about the repayment

 

of sums by energy suppliers following over-charging of consumers.

 

(2)    

Regulations under subsection (1) may, in particular—

 

(a)    

make provision about the circumstances in which energy suppliers are

 

required to make repayments and the time limits for such repayments;


 
 

Public Bill Committee: 4th March 2008                  

127

 

Energy Bill, continued

 
 

(b)    

provide for the Authority to determine charges to be made on energy

 

companies which fail to meet requirements relating to repayments.’.

 


 

Information on contributions towards environmental taxes

 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

NC4

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

The Secretary of State shall make regulations requiring energy utilities

 

companies to specify the proportion of those consumers’ energy bills that

 

contribute towards environmental taxes.

 

(2)    

In this section “environmental taxes” means—

 

(a)    

the Renewables Obligation Certificates,

 

(b)    

charges resulting from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, and

 

(c)    

charges resulting from the Carbon Emissions Reduction Targets and

 

future additional environmental charges.’.

 


 

Annual report on gas storage

 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

NC5

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘The Secretary of State shall, in each calendar year following that in which this

 

Act is passed, lay before Parliament a report on—

 

(a)    

his assessment of the appropriate volume of onshore gas storage to ensure

 

long-term energy security, and

 

(b)    

the progress that has been made towards reaching that target.’.

 


 

Feed-in tariffs

 

Charles Hendry

 

Mr John Baron

 

NC6

 

To move the following Clause:—

 

‘(1)    

The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision to introduce feed-in

 

tariffs for renewable micro-generation and decentralised energy.

 

(2)    

In this section—


 
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