Clause 3
Green Energy (Definition and Promotion) Bill
2:45 pm
Peter Ainsworth (East Surrey, Conservative)
Clause 3 is yet another victim of the accord, and I very much welcome the Government’s new clause. It covers everything that seems necessary at this stage to update and improve the current microgeneration strategy, and includes in subsection (2) a duty to consult the microgeneration industry before preparing the strategy—a wise move—and to consult
“any other persons whom the Secretary of State thinks it appropriate to consult”.
When the Minister replies—I hope that this will be an easier question—will she say whom might she include in “any other persons”? For example, will it include non-governmental organisations concerned with environmental matters or with fuel poverty? We all know—it was mentioned on Second Reading—of the potential identified by National Energy Action for air source heat pumps to make a huge difference to fuel bills and to benefit the fuel-poor. Will she assure us that organisations concerned with fuel poverty will be properly consulted?
Subsection (5) of the new clause also improves the original draft by requiring the Secretary of State to take other relevant strategies into account. That should help with joined-up thinking, which we always like to see more of, and with keeping the strategy up to date.
Subsection (7) amends and improves the definition of microgeneration in the Energy Act 2004. Section 82 of the Act produced the current strategy, which has generally worked well, but the new definition of 300 kW thermal is a great improvement on the previous definition of 45 kW thermal, which has turned out to be far too small to make any meaningful difference. We want to help not just single properties but groups of properties, and subsection (7) will help. Again, I commend the Government on their amendments, which I intend to support.