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Energy Bill

moved Amendment No. 38: 38: Clause 37, page 32, line 12, at beginning insert ““If the Secretary of State is satisfied that the differences are such that no electricity supplier would be unduly disadvantaged in competition with other electricity suppliers,”” The noble Lord said: This is essentially a probing amendment, designed to allow the Minister to sketch out the provisions that will guarantee fair competition. There seems to be a significant risk that this legislation might, as I referred to earlier, allow the Government to pick winners. I know from what the Minister said earlier that that is not the Government’s intention. Indeed, the Government seem to agree with us that the lowest-cost sustainable energy is best achieved by market forces. My simple question is: is the Minister satisfied with the safeguards in place for preserving true competition? With the rebanding of the renewables obligation, there seems to be a particular risk that the Government could allow their favoured renewables more support than others. Will the Minister assure me that that will not be the case, and will he explain the mechanisms that will ensure a truly free market? It is important to remember that the Bill creates the framework for regulation that will allow competition. How the Government actually go about creating this is another matter. The amendment stems from a rather more general and philosophical point about the Government; that is, their tendency to notice something quite bad and ban it, and to see something quite good and make it compulsory. If we are going to trust the market to deliver the most effective forms of renewable energy, we must genuinely trust it. I hope that the Minister can give the Committee an assurance that winners will not be picked in advance and that the market will be allowed to develop without undue interference. I beg to move.