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Energy Bill

My Lords, before the Minister leaves the equity point raised by my noble friend Lord O’Neill, and putting on my hat as chair of Consumer Focus, perhaps I may say that there are two aspects of this. The first is the one that we have been talking about: the cost to the generality of consumers of going down this road. However, in so far as some of the beneficiaries of a feed-in tariff pass on the use of that electricity to others, particularly in district heating schemes, does the Minister recognise that this is a lacuna in current regulation? Ofgem regulations do not protect the consumers of district heating schemes. Therefore, if such operators are to benefit from a feed-in tariff, a concomitant may well be an extension of regulation to establish equity for that group of consumers.