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Energy Providers

We have had an enormously useful debate, featuring some very helpful speeches. In the time that remains, I shall try to deal with some of the helpful points that were raised, as well as some of the less helpful. My hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, Central (Mr. Illsley) referred to the windfall tax. I share his concern about price and fuel poverty, but it should be borne in mind that we have just asked the energy companies for £910 million for the package recently announced by the Prime Minister. Admittedly the amount was to be provided over three years, but the energy companies responded, and I am not sure that this is the right time to go straight back to them and say ““We now want some more””. Moreover, as we all know from the headlines, there are financial issues in the world today. There are times when it is right to do this sort of thing, and times when it is not. Having said all that, I should add that matters of taxation are matters for the Chancellor. I was struck by an interesting point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Test (Dr. Whitehead). He questioned the idea of taxing companies that would then increase charges, suggesting that it was difficult to ensure that the increases were not passed on to customers. In the long term, we must ensure that we secure investment from those companies, which will want to receive a fair return. We also need to create an environment in which we attract overseas investment: that will be particularly important. In that context, I should tell the House that this morning I had a meeting at No. 10 Downing street with E.ON and Masdar, a company from the United Arab Emirates, which have joined forces on the London Array offshore wind farm project. When built, the wind farm will be the world's largest offshore scheme, and the partnership between oil-producing and oil-consuming countries will help to develop new energy sources and technologies. The sheer scale of this ground-breaking project, involving 1,000 MW makes Britain a world leader in offshore wind technology. I welcome that, and the foreign investment that will ensure that it happens. The hon. Member for Kettering (Mr. Hollobone) kindly invited me to his constituency and put up a very good case that it was well worth a visit. I would like to see the innovation, particularly that by the local authority and E.ON. I would also be interested, having come from a portfolio that dealt with pensioners, to see how the local authority is dealing with the elderly person, perhaps over 80, who suddenly gets all this information about how much money they are spending and decides to cut down on their heating. We want to ensure that people are properly informed, but we also want to ensure that we do not create a killer. That will be important. How we deal with that in terms of smart metering is something that I want to be sure I am entirely satisfied with. However, he makes a good case and I will consider his kind invitation. I know the speeches of the hon. Member for Northavon (Steve Webb) well from the pensions portfolio. He always comes up with a raft of good ideas, and some not so good, but they are always interesting. I was particularly struck by some of the points that he made, and I will take up some of those issues. He and the right hon. Member for Gordon (Malcolm Bruce) raised the need to get connected and rural gas contracts. I face that problem in my constituency. In the town of Kingsbury, we managed to get a group of local people, both householders and tenants of the local authority, to create a market and to get the local authority to work with them to get connections put in through Transco. We are now on a much bigger project. I went to the local authority and suggested that we do that and it has responded, albeit there has been something of a delay. However, it has managed to start the project of getting gas connected to large areas of a very rural constituency. Local authorities have a role, therefore. If we can get enough people together to create a market, it is possible to get those connections done, but I assure both Members that I will look into the matter. On North sea oil and gas, the right hon. Member for Gordon is right. Those resources are more difficult to access but they are important none the less and we must work to see whether we can create the right environment for them. I am concerned by the case raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh). Perhaps I can deal with it in more detail on another occasion, but those who install prepayment meters under the terms of their supply licence must take into account customers' ability to pay. She might be aware of that. Customers on benefit may be able to pay by fuel direct. That may be another point that is worth canvassing. The contribution of the hon. Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry) was extraordinary. Pensioners throughout the country will now be concerned by the position of the Conservative party in relation to winter fuel payments, and the refusal to say that there would be any winter fuel payments. That puts in grave doubt the winter fuel payments and any help with fuel payments for those who are still facing quite high fuel bills. Despite his protestations in relation to nuclear power, it is the case that his party leader said that nuclear energy was ““a last resort”” and that the then shadow energy Secretary, the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Alan Duncan), specifically denied that it had been Conservative policy to support nuclear power. He said:"““'Last resort' wasn't really a policy. It was two words in the document which we binned months ago.””" We need more clarity from the Conservative party about that. Can we also get some clarity in relation to wind turbines? Calling them wind blenders is not a policy and we need— It being one and a half hours after the commencement of the proceedings, the motion lapsed, without Question put, pursuant to the Temporary Standing Order (Topical debates).