Clause 36
Energy Bill
1:45 pm
Malcolm Wicks (Minister of State (Energy), Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Croydon North, Labour)
Luckily for me it so happens that I can do so. Having, perhaps rather unkindly, nominated the hon. Gentleman for asking the most absurd and ridiculous question, he has nominated me for gobbledegook. I thought that the purpose of proposed new section 32B(10)(d) was perfectly clear, but for the sake of clarity let me read something out.
ROCs can be issued to generators where it can be demonstrated that the electricity from renewable sources has either been supplied by an electricity supplier to customers in Great Britain or Northern Ireland, or the electricity has been used in a permitted way. I agree that the legal drafting in proposed new section 32B(10)(d) might not be easy to follow—that is what my brief says—but it simply makes it clear that a permitted way includes any combination of self-consumption, supply through a private wire network and provision to a transmission or distribution system. Those permitted ways cover various situations where electricity generated from renewable sources has not been sold on through a supplier or where it is difficult to prove that it has. I hope that that clarifies the purpose of this part of the clause.