Amendment,
by leave,
withdrawn.
Mr.
Bacon: I beg to move amendment 2, in
clause 63, page 50, line 18, at
end insert ‘or Northern Ireland
legislation’.
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.
The
Chairman: With this it will be convenient to discuss the
following:
Amendment
3, in
clause 65, page 52, line 36, at
end insert—
‘(5) In
subsection (4) “enactment” includes an instrument made
under an
enactment.’.
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.
Amendment
4, in
clause 69, page 57, line 35, at
end insert ‘or Northern Ireland
legislation’.
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, Northern Ireland legislation
is included where appropriate and
relevant.
Mr.
Bacon: The amendments speak for
themselves.
Amendment
2 agreed
to.
Amendment
proposed: 27, in
clause 49, page 42, line 18, leave
out ‘the Secretary of State determines’ and
insert
‘the Secretary of
State has reason to believe’..—(Mr. Bob
Ainsworth.)
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.
Mr.
Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con): I had not intended to
speak to this
amendment.
Mr.
Ainsworth: I beg to ask leave to withdraw the
amendment.
Amendment,
by leave, withdrawn.
New Clause
16
Social
tariffs and energy assistance
package
‘(1) The Secretary of
State may make regulations prescribing that domestic gas and
electricity suppliers (“suppliers”), or each gas and
electricity supplier of a specified description, shall make available
energy assistance packages to such gas and electricity customers or
group or groups of gas and electricity customers as are prescribed by
the Secretary of State (“eligible
consumers”).
(2) The
regulations shall—
(a)
set out the group or groups of gas and electricity customers who are to
be eligible for energy assistance
packages;
(b) specify the
component parts of an energy assistance package, including but not
limited to obligations to—
(i) supply gas or electricity or both at a reduced
cost (the “social tariff”) to an eligible
consumer;
(ii) provide energy
efficiency and heating measures that are available to an eligible
consumer through suppliers’ existing and future energy
efficiency obligations;
(iii)
refer an eligible consumer to the relevant energy efficiency and
heating schemes funded by national and local
government;
(iv) refer to such
services that are able to verify that the recipient is claiming or is
able to claim all the financial assistance to which they are
entitled.
(c) specify the
interval or intervals at which an eligible consumer’s
entitlement to the energy assistance package should be
reviewed.
(3) The regulations
shall set out the discounting mechanism that suppliers shall be
required to apply in order to ensure that the social tariff represents
a rate lower than any other rate available to other customers of that
supplier, regardless of the eligible customer’s payment
method.
(4) The regulations
shall specify the criteria by which the Secretary of State is to
determine targets that will set out the number of energy assistance
packages suppliers on whom the obligations are imposed by the
regulations should offer and the time period in which these targets are
to be met.
(5) Particular
provision in the regulations relating to the targets
shall—
(a) require
suppliers to give to the Secretary of State such specific information,
or information of a specified nature, about their proposals for
complying with their respective energy assistance package as required
by the Secretary of State;
(b)
require gas and electricity suppliers to produce to the Secretary of
State evidence of a specified kind demonstrating that they have
complied with their obligations under this
order;
(c) set out the method
by which the Secretary of State will assess the performance of each gas
and electricity supplier against their respective
targets;
(d) set out the
sanctions available to the Secretary of State in any instance where gas
and electricity suppliers fail to achieve the targets they have been
set under these
regulations.
(6) The
regulations shall prescribe the mechanisms by which the Secretary of
State shall ensure these regulations and resultant targets are
implemented in a way that falls on each supplier on whom these
regulations are imposed, to ensure that no supplier is unduly
disadvantaged in competing with other suppliers as a result of these
obligations.
(7) The
regulations shall set out the obligations upon other relevant
departments and agencies of government to assist suppliers and other
agencies deemed appropriate
in—
(a) the efficient
delivery of energy assistance packages to eligible
consumers;
(b) offering the
income maximisation service component of the energy assistance package
described in (2)(b)(iii)
above.
(8) The regulations
may—
(a) provide for
derogations from any of the requirements contained
therein;
(b) make
supplementary, incidental and transitional
provisions;
(c) set out the
arrangements applicable to suppliers who enter the supply market after
the beginning of the period to which the regulations
relate.
(9) Before making any regulation under this section
the Secretary of State shall consult the Gas and Electricity Markets
Authority (“the Authority”), the Gas and Electricity
Consumers Council (“the Council”) and suppliers and such
other persons as he considers
appropriate.
(10) Any
regulations under this section shall not be made unless a draft of the
instrument containing it has been laid before, and approved by a
resolution of, each House of Parliament.’.—(Kitty
Ussher.)
This
Amendment provides the Secretary of State with a permissive power to
instruct energy companies to bring forward measures to reduce fuel
poverty.
Brought
up, read the First and Second time, and added to the
Bill.
Clause
69
The
heading
Amendment
made: 4, in
clause 69, page 57, line 35, at
end insert ‘or Northern Ireland
legislation’.—(Mr.
Darling.)
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, Northern Ireland legislation is
included where appropriate and
relevant.
Ordered,
That further consideration be now adjourned.—(Claire
Ward.)
Adjourned till this
day at Four
o’clock.
