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12 Oct 2009 : Column 481W—continued
An average use of light bulbs of 460 hours a year.
The heat replacement effect.
Around 5 per cent. of the CFLs are not installed.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what process is used to determine the type of compact fluorescent light bulbs that are sent to energy customers under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme. [289602]
Joan Ruddock: Energy suppliers are free to promote to consumers any compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) that has been proven to save energy and carbon. Up to 1 January 2010, at which point direct mail CFLs are to be withdrawn from CERT, it is at suppliers' discretion which CFL type they promote, within Ofgem's guidance. The guidance states that only four CFLs per customer are eligible to be sent directly and that any pack of four bulbs has to include at least two types.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 2 April 2009, Official Report, column 1369W, on the Warm Front Scheme, what steps his Department takes to ensure that compact fluorescent light bulbs sent to Warm Front customers are suitable for the light fittings at their property. [289770]
Mr. Kidney: All compact fluorescent light bulbs issued to Warm Front customers are supplied with standard British bayonet cap fittings. Bayonet cap fittings are suitable for use in more than 95 per cent. of the light fittings in England.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 2 April 2009, Official Report, column 1369W, on the Warm Front scheme, what process is used to determine the type of compact fluorescent light bulbs sent to Warm Front customers. [289771]
Mr. Kidney: The type of compact fluorescent light bulb issued to Warm Front customers is a 11 Watt replacement for a 40Watt incandescent light bulb, one of the most common light bulbs used in England.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 2 April 2009, Official Report, column 1369W, on the Warm Front scheme, how many compact fluorescent light bulbs were sent on to each Warm Front customer in the latest period for which figures are available. [289772]
Mr. Kidney: Households eligible for assistance under the Warm Front scheme each receive two compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Low Carbon Buildings Programme
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what support his Department is providing to companies developing low-carbon goods and services. [289849]
Joan Ruddock: DECC provides a range of support to UK companies developing low carbon goods and services. This is part of wider government support offered through Solutions for Business and includes:
£405 million of additional funding for low carbon industries and green manufacturing in the UK as announced in Budget 2009; advice and support through the DECC-funded Carbon Trust for companies developing low carbon goods and services; venture capital for low carbon companies, including through the UK Innovation Investment Fund and the Carbon Trust's investment activities.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he plans to reply to the letter of 15 January 2009 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on Mr and Mrs R. Allan. [290240]
Joan Ruddock: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State replied to my right hon. Friend on 17 March 2009.
National Skills Academy for Nuclear
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what funding his Department has provided to the National Skills Academy for Nuclear since 3 October 2008; and what funding his Department plans to provide for the Academy in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11. [289791]
Mr. Kidney: It is not within the remit of the Department of Energy and Climate Change to provide funding to the National Skills Academy for Nuclear (NSAN). For the first three years of its operation from 2008, the learning and Skills Council will provide funding to match the amount invested in the Skills Academy by Associate Members. NSAN, like all other National Skills Academies, is expected to become self-sufficient after three years of operation.
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is a non-departmental public body which is sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The LSC is due to be replaced by the Skills Funding Agency from April 2010.
Natural Gas: Storage
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what requirements the Government places on gas supply companies to hold stocks of gas in storage. [289417]
Mr. Kidney: The level of gas held in storage is primarily a commercial decision made by companies. It is influenced by the commercial judgments of shippers and suppliers on how best to meet their supply requirements; and by the 'cash-out' regime under our gas market governance arrangements, which exposes gas shippers/suppliers to potentially very high cash-out charges for any daily imbalance between the quantities of gas they convey into, and remove from, the gas network.
However, there are safety monitors in place to ensure there is a minimum amount of gas in storage available over the winter, across all storage sites in GB, for the System Operator to operate the system safely at times of emergency.
Nuclear Power
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the average annual level of carbon dioxide emissions produced by a nuclear power plant in the UK. [291347]
Mr. Kidney [holding answer 16 September 2009]: The Nuclear White Paper 2008 set out that the lifecycle emissions of nuclear power, including CO2 emitted during construction, operation and decommissioning of the power station, mining, and transport of fuel, and disposal of waste are in the range of 7-22 g/kWh of electricity generated.
In common with other low-carbon fuel technologies such as wind or hydro, a significant proportion of these lifecycle emissions are derived from the construction and decommissioning phases of the power station's life. There are some CO2 emissions associated with uranium mining, which are small, and which are incorporated in the overall lifecycle emissions.
The World Nuclear Associated has published analyses of lifecycle CO2 emissions from nuclear power generation which reported at:
Nuclear Power Stations: Safety
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Directorate has made a decision on the periodic safety review for the Chapelcross nuclear site; and if he will make a statement. [289649]
Mr. Kidney: I understand a decision is expected to be made on 30 October 2009.
Office for Renewable Energy Development
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (1) when he expects the budget for 2009-10 of the Office for Renewable Energy Deployment to be finalised; [289895]
(2) when he expects the Office for Renewable Energy Deployment to become operational. [289896]
Mr. Kidney: The Office for Renewable Energy Deployment (ORED) was launched on 15 July 2009. ORED's mission is to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in order to reduce carbon emissions, increase security of supply and create business opportunities in the UK.
As of August 2009 the budgets available to ORED, including funding allocated to low carbon investment in Budget 2009, are as set out in the following table. In addition, ORED will also be delivering projects funded from the Strategic Investment Fund managed by BIS; this additional funding amounts to up to £135.5 million over the next two years.
| ORED Budgets | ||
| £ million | ||
| 2009-10 | 2010-11 | |
Ofgem
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what (a) seminars and (b) workshops (i) have been held and (ii) are planned to be held as part of Ofgem's RPI minus X at 20 review. [289883]
Mr. Kidney: These are matters for Ofgem. I have asked the chairman to respond directly to the hon. Member, and a copy of the response will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what working groups have been set up as part of Ofgem's RPI minus X at 20 review. [289884]
Mr. Kidney: These are matters for Ofgem. I have asked the chairman to respond directly to the hon. Member, and a copy of the response will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what meetings (a) the Secretary of State and (b) other Ministers in his Department have had with Ofgem to discuss its RPI minus X at 20 review. [289886]
Mr. Kidney: Ministers have had a number of meetings with Ofgem in the past year to discuss a range of issues including the regulation and development of energy infrastructure.
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate has been made by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets of the level of average (a) gas and (b) electricity bills in (i) England, (ii) Wales, (iii) Scotland and (iv) each English region. [289885]
Mr. Kidney: Markets produces estimates of domestic household energy bills. Latest estimates reflect current prices as at June 2009 prices, and are available online at:
For an average consumer using 3,300 kWh of electricity and 20,500 kWh of gas per year and paying their bills on receipt (standard credit), June 2009 prices indicate an average annual electricity bill of £445 and the average gas bill was £800. Ofgem does not produce estimates of bills at regional levels.
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when Ofgem began its RPI minus X at 20 review; what the timetable of the review is; and if he will make a statement. [289887]
Mr. Kidney: These are matters for Ofgem. I have asked the chairman to respond directly to the hon. Member, and a copy of his response will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 23 March 2009, Official Report, column 171W, on energy: consumers, when he expects Ofgem to have completed its consideration of other means which can be used to promote supplier switching. [290028]
Mr. Kidney: Ofgem published its detailed proposals for promoting supplier switching on 7 August 2009. The proposals include better information on bills, annual statements and a customer switching guarantee to simplify the switching process. Some of these will be implemented in October 2009 and the whole package will be in place by April 2010.
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with Ofgem on the relationship between domestic energy bills and energy prices; and if he will make a statement. [292386]
Mr. Kidney: DECC Ministers are in regular contact with the regulator on many factors affecting consumer bills. On 18 September Ofgem published its most recent Quarterly Report on wholesale costs and retail prices. These Quarterly Reports were initiated in response to a request from Government and the most recent is the third.
Opinion Polls
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much has spent by (a) the Energy Saving Trust and (b) the Carbon Trust on opinion polling in each of the last five years. [289790]
Joan Ruddock: The Energy Saving Trust do not spend the DECC grant fund on opinion polling. Instead, this activity would be funded using EST corporate funds. Therefore, we are unable to provide these details.
According to the Carbon Trust, they mainly carry out business research but occasionally do consumer opinion polling in specific areas and, in the last five years, have spent an estimated total of £18,000 on this.
Petrol: Prices
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the difference between the average price of a litre of petrol in rural and non-rural areas in each year since 1997. [290258]
Mr. Kidney: DECC do not collect or publish prices of petrol split by rural and non-rural areas.
Data on average monthly UK petrol prices are published in Table 4.1.1 of Quarterly Energy Prices. The latest edition was published in June 2009 and is available online at
DECC also publishes weekly UK petrol price data.
Power Failures: Dartford Creek
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what representations he has received regarding the power cut at Dartford Creek cable bridge on Monday 20 July; and if he will make a statement. [290928]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 9 September 2009]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change did not receive any representations regarding the power cut at Dartford Creek cable bridge on 20 July.
Officials from the Department were in regular contact with EDF Energy Networks and kept Ministers informed throughout the incident.
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