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Energy Bill

The noble Baroness must accept that if I have a little difficulty in accepting my noble friend’s hypothesis in its entirely, I am saying that it must be tested. That is the work that the Government have done. By extension, we are bound to have even greater necessity for analysing whether some of the costs might be paid by the householder, who would see the benefits of paying for the meter. That would be an additional step in the analysis of the economic case. I say to the noble Baroness that we have not completed all this work. The Committee must recognise that this is an exceedingly complex area, which the Government must get right. We are persuaded of the cost-benefit analysis for medium-sized business and intend to proceed on that as quickly as possible. I have indicated that small-sized business is a much bigger problem, and we have further work to do there. The costs involved for the domestic user, however, are enormous. Before the Government can commit to a programme of billions of pounds, we must be as certain as possible of the proposal’s cost-benefit analysis. That is why intensive work has to be done, particularly against the background of high energy prices. It is right that, with the costs involved, the Government should ensure that they have the nation’s confidence in rolling out this programme, rather than back-of-the-envelope calculations.