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Energy Bill

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Redesdale, for his amendment, which has prompted an interesting debate. The amendment seeks to provide priority of access both for electricity and gas transmission and for distribution systems for renewable energy sources. The text of the first part of the amendment comes from the current draft EU renewables directive, and many of the provisions referred to in the proposed new clause were in the 2001 renewables directive. That is why we recognise both the text and the significance of the issue. This is an important issue, on which I am grateful to have the opportunity to explain the Government’s position. The key difference between the amendment and the provisions already in place in Great Britain—through licence conditions and underlying industry codes—is that the amendment would mandate priority access to the grid for electricity from renewable sources. It is worth noting that currently, as those who followed the debate in the other place will recall, that is a discretionary matter for member states. Before I analyse the provisions further, I make clear that once the Commission’s proposals for priority access are finalised and the directive agreed, the directive will be implemented in the UK. We should not be implementing legislative proposals simply because we have a legislative opportunity in the Bill, particularly as there is a risk that the directive will change and we could be in the ludicrous position of having produced recent legislation that is an ill fit with the final European directive. As the noble Lord will recognise, as with any European directive the Government have the option, among others, of using Section 2(2) of the European Communities Act to implement it, if they so wish. In that sense, we do not need the legislation either. The eventual implementation route will depend to some extent on the form of the finalised directive, and we cannot pre-empt that at this stage. Those are relatively minor matters in relation to the amendment—although the appropriateness and accuracy of our legislation is important—which is about priority access from renewable resources. The noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, illustrated why the Government would find the amendment difficult. We must not create uncertainty for existing generators and those planning future investments. Uncertainty would discourage investment, which would have serious repercussions on meeting our energy needs and targets. We need certainty, because the crucial responsibility of government is security of provision from the grid. As the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, indicated, the problem with certain dimensions of renewables—we are to foresee for the immediate future the largest contribution being from wind sources—is the element of uncertainty. I never thought, having struggled with the Schleswig-Holstein question many years ago as a historian, that I would be grateful for such a reference many years later, but I was grateful for his evidence on E.ON’s experience.