Baroness Worthington: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have approved consumer strategies and consumer communications developed by gas distribution network operators (1) as part of the neighbourhood trial, and (2) as part of the village trial.
Baroness Worthington: To ask His Majesty's Government what alternative heating solutions will be provided to consumers who do not want to participate (1) in the hydrogen heating neighbourhood trial, and (2) in the hydrogen heating village trial.
Baroness Worthington: I want to press on the question of what is being trialled. The Minister mentioned feasibility, benefits and costs, but what about the environmental impacts of this trial? We are talking here about a global warming gas, and a very slippery gas because it is the smallest element—it escapes everywhere. Will the regulations contain measures to monitor the environmental impact of both the NOx...
Baroness Worthington: My Lords, I will speak to the amendments in this group but I do not propose to detain the House for long. My views on hydrogen are relatively well known, and we had a good debate in Committee on Clauses 111 and 112. I support the previous speeches and the approaches taken to get the Government to think again about the need for these trials to be included in the Bill. I welcome government...
Baroness Worthington: My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords who have spoken in this debate, to the noble Baroness, Lady Sheehan, for adding her name, to the noble Baroness, Lady Blake, for her support, and to the Minister for his comments. This is indeed my last outing before I depart after recess. I want to say thank you to everyone who has made me feel so welcome in the 12 years I have been here on and off,...
Baroness Worthington: My Lords, Amendment 40 relates to the carbon take-back obligation. We had an excellent debate towards the end of Committee about the question of what government policy is on the supply side of the equation of tackling climate change and environmental impact. On one hand, we had a group of Peers who were talking about the need to increase our extraction of fossil fuels and to move into...
Baroness Worthington: My Lords, I added my name to Amendment 18 in respect of who should be paying a hydrogen levy. I do not consider that hydrogen is going to play a large role in our broader economy. I think it will have specialised uses: it will be used where it is already used, in the production of fertilisers and in certain chemical processes, and it may well be used as a back-up fuel in extremis when we have...
Baroness Worthington: I shall speak briefly to Amendment 58, which the noble Lord, Lord Ravensdale, has so eloquently spoken to. I definitely support the nuclear element of this amendment, and I am grateful to the noble Lord for bringing this to our attention, as well as to the Minister for taking it on proactively. However, I have a question around the inclusion of fossil-derived sources of energy in this...
Baroness Worthington: To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the neighbourhood trial, referred to in the impact assessment on the Hydrogen Heating Village Grid Conversion, published on 6 July 2022, to (1) commence, (2) conclude, and (3) report; and what measures they will use to evaluate its success.
Baroness Worthington: To ask His Majesty's Government why they are taking powers to impose a village trial of hydrogen heating before the completion of the neighbourhood trial and the publication of the analysis of the findings from that trial.
Baroness Worthington: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of consumers who (1) will participate in the Hydrogen Heating Village Trial, (2) will decline to participate in the hydrogen heating village trial and receive an alternative heating solution, (3) will be disconnected from natural gas without their consent, and (4) will be agreed by their Gas Distribution Network...
Baroness Worthington: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Energy Bill [HL] Impact Assessment on a hydrogen heating village grid conversion trial which states that “we expect Gas Distribution Network Operators to reach an agreement with all consumers in the chosen trial location, including those who do not want hydrogen or cannot participate in the trial”, on what grounds consumers would be...
Baroness Worthington: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Impact Assessment on the Hydrogen Heating Village Grid Conversion Trial which stated that “the trial will largely be funded by Ofgem and BEIS, with some private sector investment", how much of the cost will be paid (1) from public funds, and (2) by billpayers.
Baroness Worthington: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that participants in the hydrogen heating neighbourhood trial and village trial are not disadvantaged by either their participation or their choice of an alternative heating solution; how they will ensure throughout the trial that the financial position of consumers in the trial is no worse than it would have been in had...
Baroness Worthington: My Lords, I request a similarly detailed answer from the Minister on the costs of the hydrogen trials. As he will know, I do not support this way of moving forward. However, had we taken the same approach to heat pumps, ground source heat pumps in particular, how much would it have cost us per household for 2,000 homes? How much are we spending per household on the hydrogen trials?
Baroness Worthington: I agree with the Minister in his statement that there is a multiplicity of solutions for decarbonising heat. One very promising technology is the use of heat loops, or networked ground source heat pumps. These are much more efficient than even air source heat pumps and are an excellent technology that we should be trialling, perhaps instead of hydrogen.
Baroness Worthington: My Lords, in retrospect, would it not have been more sensible to have negotiated with the providers of those resources from the North Sea to our domestic consumers and capped the price? Instead, we have allowed prices to rise, with no underlying rise in the cost of production, to the cost of the consumer. The tax may be coming in, but is it going back out to the people in need? I very much...
Baroness Worthington: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, for securing this debate. I echo her comments about the sheer number of opportunities ahead of us in the near term to address some of the recommendations in legislation before us, whether that is the Energy Bill, the Procurement Bill or the financial services Bill. I also congratulate Chris Skidmore on not just the nature of the report but...
Baroness Worthington: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Autumn Statement announcement on vehicle excise duty (VED) changes, whether they intend to levy annual VED of £165 from 2025 on electric vehicles; whether pre-2017 petrol and diesel vehicles rated at less than 110 gCO2/km will continue to pay £20; and whether those rated 110–120gCO2/km will continue to pay £30; if so, what are their...
Baroness Worthington: To ask His Majesty's Government what consumer protections are in place for consumers directly or indirectly investing in commodity derivatives.
