---

Energy Bill

My Lords, my Amendment No. 30 has been linked with the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh, and I congratulate him on erecting a fascinating superstructure of argument and anxiety on the somewhat slender foundations of his own amendment. The noble Lord has freely acknowledged to me in private that he realises that by adding ““existing or future”” to ““consumers”” he is not actually adding anything to the legislation at all. I moved an amendment to what became the Utilities Act 2000, so that it now states: "““In this Part—‘consumers’ includes both existing consumers and future consumers””." Exactly the same definition is also found in Section 4AA of the Gas Act 1986. That has been the remit for Ofgem since then.