Speeches by Shanks.

“I understand the point. First of all, I have been really clear. This regulation, as it clearly sets out, comes to an end on 31 December 2028. We will come back to the Committee to update the regulations should we wish to continue the scheme. We have run AR7—it was a successful scheme. Obviously, we want to monitor what…”

“Different parts of it are funded in different ways. We have hydrogen projects that are funded through the National Wealth Fund or general taxation. Some of the costs of that on an ongoing basis are on bills, although it is worth saying that that is a very small amount. There is a mix depending on what we use it for. Th…”

“I see—sorry. I misunderstood your question; I thought you were talking about how we reduce the cost of the system. Much of it has been funded from general taxation. The sizable investment in CCUS, for example, came from taxation; it did not come from bills. On hydrogen, we have developed a refreshed hydrogen strategy, …”

“I think profits should be managed at as low a level as is possible. I would like to see as much money as possible staying in the pockets of the hard-working people of this country, or building the grid that we need for the future rather than going in profits, but I also recognise that we have a privatised system—we hav…”

“I thank the right hon. Member for his second speech in the debate.”

“It was just a west coast boy thing, then. We all went to Cruachan, the “hollow mountain”. We have not invested in those schemes since; this is the first example in 40 years. Long-duration energy storage is really important, as is a range of innovative technologies—not just pumped hydro storage, but compressed air and v…”

“I do not have particular forecasts of the impacts on bills, but all of that is about trying to diversify our system and store power, particularly the wind and the sun, for when we need it. Long-duration energy storage in particular was built a very long time ago—you and I will know Cruachan in Scotland, a pumped hydro …”

“This is partly why I said in my first answer that although we appreciate that people will be worried looking at the news and thinking about where prices might go, the Government are not going to rush into working out what that looks like two weeks into this. We have a price cap coming in on 1 April that will last three…”

“It was a really important recognition, from the Prime Minister down, that there are no actions the Government are not prepared to take to help to tackle the cost of living. It was a very clear, targeted action with a really specific amount of money that could be ringfenced, moved from one to another and have a direct t…”

“I think I said there wasn’t a principled objection to us using data to look at how we might target support more; you have taken me slightly further than what I said in my answer. We have said consistently that we understand the argument for a social tariff. Our No. 1 aim is obviously to bring down everybody’s bills, bu…”

“We keep everything on the table. The Prime Minister has said that everything is on the table, but I am not going to be drawn on what happens at the end of a price cap that has not even started yet. The price cap kicks in on 1 April, people will be protected by that price cap regardless of what they see on their TV scre…”

“I will look into the very specific forecourts that the hon. Member mentions. However, I restate what I said at the beginning, which is based on the live data that we have from forecourts around the UK: there is no shortage of fuel in the UK. That is really important to say and is backed up by the evidence that we have …”

“I do not think that is for them. They are not the arbiter of this. Ofgem has worked very hard in this price control period to make sure that, yes, a regulated profit margin is allowed, but that that is as low as possible. Of course, the RIIO system is about incentives to innovate and build as fast as possible, which he…”

“That is how we end up with absolutely no industry left in the country. That is what we are trying to rebuild after 14 years of it falling apart. I will turn to the specific points. First of all, the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, made a good point about the strength of supply ch…”

“There is a live conversation about whether the powers are there. There is then a secondary conversation about how that power is used practically. Particularly, there is obviously a sensitivity around HMRC data, and the public would expect us to be looking very carefully at that. But we can use that data, not just for t…”

“You are right to highlight debt in particular. It is a staggering figure: in the latest numbers, Ofgem estimates that every single consumer is paying around £52 a year managing the debt in the sector. It is bad for everybody, but it is also bad for those worrying about whether they can put their heating on. We are doin…”

“That is the point that I was making: people would have a different view on who would be eligible for that, and that is one of the challenges.”

“The challenge is that if I put that definition to a number of other organisations working in this space, I would get different responses.”

“Maybe we do need to do more to explain it. It is a complicated picture, and there are different people working in different parts of the system who generate a profit as part of doing that work. We work with the system we have got. We want to make it much more efficient, which is why market reform is important. We will …”

“I think that the last time I was at the Committee, you put a definition to me that would have solved another one of my policy dilemmas, so it is very helpful.”