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12 Oct 2009 : Column 466W—continued
Directive 2009/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the community. The deadline for transposition is 31 December 2009 (for article 1(10) and 1(13)) and 31 December 2012 (for the remainder).
Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the geological storage of carbon dioxide and amending Council Directive 85/337/EEC, European Parliament and Council Directives 2000/60/EC, 2001/80/EC, 2004/53/EC, 2006/12/EC, 2008/1/EC and Regulation EC No 1013/2006. The deadline for transposition is 25 June 2011.
Council Directive 2009/71/Euratom of 25 June 2009 establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations. The deadline for transposition is 22 July 2011.
Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 2003/54/EC. The deadline for transposition is 3 March 2011.
Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas and repealing Directive 2003/55/EC. The deadline for transposition is 3 March 2011.
A Directive imposing an obligation on member states to maintain minimum stocks of crude oil and/or petroleum products was agreed at the Energy Council of 12 June 2009 with a transposition date of 31 December 2012.
Departmental Standards
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what projects in his Department have been subject to gateway review since his Department was created. [289789]
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what stocktake meetings his Department has had with the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit since his Department was established. [289936]
Joan Ruddock: The PMDU is in constant contact with Departments as part of its process of taking stock of delivery. It reports regularly to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, the Treasury and the Departments concerned.
Departmental Training
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many external training courses were attended by staff of his Department since its inception in the last 12 months; and what the cost was of each course. [289678]
Joan Ruddock: DECC external training budgets are delegated to line managers, and the information requested is not held centrally. As a consequence the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Electricity Generation
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department is taking to promote the uptake of smart grid technologies to generate electricity. [289366]
Mr. Kidney: The Department of Energy and Climate Change is already working on key areas of smart networks to ensure it understand the benefits of smart grid technologies for meeting our goals and to encourage deployment in the coming years. Its programme currently consists of:
A programme to roll out smart meters to every home by end 2020-an £8 billion private sector investment. This is one of the building blocks for creating a smart grid.
Encouraging Distribution Network Operators through regulatory incentives to trial new 'smarter' technologies on their networks. The Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets are proposing to significantly increase the amount of funding available for this.
Providing direct funding for innovation through the Energy Technologies Institute which aims to invest up to £l billion over the next 10 years in low carbon energy technologies, including networks. The Government are engaging with the recently established Energy Technologies Institute networks panel that is scoping the objectives they set for a call for projects.
Providing direct funding, through the Research Councils, of over £30 million for collaborative research in networks involving academia and industry. Providing complementary funding of £6 million to supplement other funding for network innovation such as Ofgem's Innovation Funding Incentive among other sources. Government funding for smart grids will be used to support early stage development of trials of key technologies consistent with a vision for a smart grid in the UK to be published later this year.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 30 March 2009, Official Report, columns 931-2W, on electricity generation, what the electricity supply capacity margin was in each year from 1990 to 2006. [289758]
Mr. Kidney: The following table shows the UK electricity supply capacity margin, for financial years 1993-04 to 2006-07.
| Total electricity declared net capacity (MW) | Simultaneous UK maximum electricity load met (MW) | Implied percentage margin | |
| Source: Energy Sector Indicators, 2009, available at: http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/publications/indicators/indicators.aspx | |||
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what information his Department holds for benchmarking purposes on the percentage of electricity generated lost in (a) transmission and (b) distribution in other EU member states. [290261]
Mr. Kidney: The Department does not hold such information. However, Eurostat does publish data on total network losses, transmission and distribution combined, for each member state.
Electricity: Compensation
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people have received compensation payments under the Guaranteed Standards Scheme from electricity companies in the last 12 months. [290929]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 9 September 2009]: The number of people receiving compensation payments under the Guaranteed Standards Scheme for 2007-08 is:
| Electricity Guaranteed Standard of Performance (EGS) | Number of payments made | Value of payments |
| (1) Figures that Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) reported in their annual revenue returns as "normal compensation payments due" across the 14 DNOs. This includes ex-gratia payments from the 14 DNOs to consumers who failed to claim under the EGS. | ||
Page 37 of the following link details what each EGS covers:
Electricity: Consumption
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department is taking to support the (a) development and (b) uptake of dynamic demand technology in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [289365]
Mr. Kidney:
The Department is assessing the potential for such technology to help us achieve our energy policy goals. We recently published a call for evidence on
"Delivering Secure Low Carbon Electricity" which focused in part on how to make electricity demand smarter, including through the use of dynamic demand devices. The call for evidence closes at the end of October.
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with (a) utility companies and (b) domestic appliance manufacturers on dynamic demand technology; and if he will make a statement. [289367]
Mr. Kidney: I have invited stakeholders to submit analysis about the potential for dynamic demand through DECC's recent call for evidence "Delivering Secure Low Carbon Electricity" and hope that the utility companies and domestic appliance manufacturers will use this opportunity to represent their views. The call for evidence closes at the end of October.
Electricity: Meters
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of smart metering in (a) reducing carbon dioxide emissions and (b) improving efficiency in the UK electricity supply industry. [289364]
Mr. Kidney: In May 2009 the Government published an Impact Assessment of the roll-out of smart metering alongside its consultation on smart metering. Both documents are available from the consultations section of the DECC website at:
The impact assessment includes an assessment of the benefits of smart metering. The consultation closed in August and the Government are now considering the responses.
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department plans to hold a consultation during 2009 on its plans to roll-out smart meters to all domestic customers. [289890]
Mr. Kidney: The Government published a consultation on smart metering on 11 May 2009. It is available at the consultation section of the DECC website at:
The consultation closed on 3 August. The Government are now considering responses and will respond to the consultation in due course.
Electricity: Prices
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the average price of (a) a unit of gas and (b) a kWh of electricity supplied to households in the UK was in (i) 2006, (ii) 2007 and (iii) each month of 2008; and what information his Department holds for benchmarking purposes on equivalent figures for each other EU member state. [289944]
Mr. Kidney: The Department's latest estimates for the average annual domestic energy bills and provisional estimates for the year to 2009 and are published in Quarterly Energy Prices, published in September 2009.
For an average consumer using 18,000 kWh of gas per year and paying their bills on receipt (standard credit), the average unit price for gas was £2.63 in 2006, £3.07 in 2007, £3.17 in 2008 and £3.99 in 2009.
For an average consumer using 3,300 kWh of electricity per year and paying their bills on receipt (standard credit), the average unit price for electricity was £10.24 in 2006, £11.61 in 2007, £12.26 in 2008 and £13.94 in 2009. Average unit prices per month are not available.
Regarding unit prices of gas and electricity in other EU member states, DECC republishes bi-annual data collected by Eurostat, the European statistical agency. The data are in Table 5.6.2 and 5.10.2 of Quarterly Energy Prices, published in September 2009 and available online at:
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