Written evidence to be reported to the House
Energy Bill
12:00 pm
Steve Webb (Chair of the Election Manifesto Group, Cross-Portfolio and Non-Portfolio Responsibilities; Northavon, Liberal Democrat)
As you mentioned, we had evidence this morning from the companies, and I have a follow-up question that is germane to Alistair and Allan—one each if I may. I shall give you both questions, so that you can get thinking.
To Ofgem, Rupert Steele, director of regulation at Scottish Power, said that your analysis was simplistic, that it did not recognise the £9 billion figure and that it made long-term decisions about investment, so your suggestion that we might have any of it back was naive—my word, but it was implicit in his comments. I should be interested in your reaction.
To Allan Asher of energywatch, we asked about social tariffs, and I said that it spent tens of millions on social tariffs, to which he said, “Yes, but we spend billions on energy efficiency, and isn’t the most important thing for the fuel poor not to give them more money to pay high bills, or to make them pay slightly less, so that they pay less when they heat the open air, but to spend billions on energy efficiency? And aren’t social tariffs therefore a distraction?” In that sequence, can you respond to those two questions?