Energy Bill

The Energy Bill 2012 seeks to implement ‘electricity market reform’. The aims of this, as for Government energy policy generally, are for ‘secure, clean and affordable’ energy supplies. The Bill introduces a new system of support for low-carbon generation, called ‘Contracts for Difference’ which will encompass nuclear as well as renewable generation. It allows for other measures to reform the electricity market, such as capacity auctions, and measures to support routes to market for independent generators should such powers be needed. However, it does not include all of the recommendations made by the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee following its pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill. The Committee also said that certainty and stability were needed urgently for investors, but several consultations associated with measures in the Bill are still on-going.

Other provisions in the Bill include placing the Office for Nuclear Regulation on a statutory footing, allowing for the possible sale of the Government Pipeline and Storage System, and ‘consumer redress’ powers, allowing Ofgem to require energy companies to pay compensation to consumers.

The Bill’s Second Reading will take place on Wednesday 19 December 2012.