Energy Bill: Committee Stage Report

This is a report on the House of Commons Committee Stage of the Energy Bill 2012-13. It follows Library Research Paper 12/79 prepared for Commons Second Reading. There is as yet no date set for Report Stage and Third Reading.

Some substantive Government amendments were made to the Bill in Committee. New clauses added the power to set, after 2016, a ‘decarbonisation range’ for the electricity sector in secondary legislation. Further new clauses were introduced on providing cheapest tariffs, with a ‘sunset clause’. Several consultations associated with the Bill have closed but the results are not yet known, and others are on-going. This leaves open the possibility of further Government amendments to the Bill, which is a carry-over Bill, later.

All Government amendments so far have been accepted, but no non-Government amendments or new clauses have been adopted. Those rejected included; setting a decarbonisation target for 2030 sooner, ensuring greater transparency for setting the ‘strike price’ paid for low carbon generation and around early investment contracts, stronger requirements on offering cheapest tariffs, providing for a ‘strategic reserve’ as well as a ‘capacity market’ to provide extra electricity capacity, extending the small scale feed-in-tariff to larger community schemes, and for energy efficiency incentive Regulations.