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Energy Bill

I was delighted to add my name to the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh, and I share all his aims and objectives. I do not share his diffidence because I think this is a fundamental amendment. Regulation is a rapidly developing and evolving process, and the very idea that after 15 years a regulator set up in one energy world is going to have a remit that fully equips it for a different energy world is slightly absurd. There is no question but that we are moving into a very different energy environment. My experience of working with regulators is that primary responsibilities and objectives are treated very seriously and dealt with and that secondary responsibilities are nowhere. They are not on the map, and to pretend that a secondary objective is given any serious consideration is fatuous. I strongly support this amendment and its purpose. I have nothing much to add to what I said at Second Reading, but I have a question that I would like to attach to this amendment. It comes from something I read in the Business and Enterprise Committee brief that came out last week: "““The Chemical Industries Association (CIA) told us that after the new storage comes on-stream in three or four years, the UK will have 19 days of storage, as opposed to 13 days now. That compares to 99 days in Germany, 122 days in France, and similar sorts of levels in the States. Until recently, North Sea supplies have negated the need for large-scale storage facilities in the UK””." I have no idea whether BERR or Ofgem is responsible for monitoring and reporting on what supplies are available at any one time, but I am sure that that is a fundamental piece of information. It is not to do with capacity. A lot of the figures that drift around are about our capacity, but that is not the issue. In the end, the issue is how much oil, fuel and gas is available to this country at any given moment. If there is any confusion about who is responsible for reporting and monitoring capacity and resource levels, it should be dealt with, perhaps in this amendment or possibly in a Statement by the Minister from the Dispatch Box.