Speeches by Shanks.

“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.”

“We keep an open mind about the best way in which to fund the system that we need. I am acutely aware that I am not the Chancellor, so I am not going to be drawn on decisions around public spending. Clearly, we want to look in the round about the best way to deliver this. You are right to say that we have a different ap…”

“I entirely understand the argument, and we are not against looking at all sorts of things like that. Particularly, we are genuinely not against the principle of rebalancing. We are looking at it, but it is a question of how it is delivered in the fairest way possible. Of course, some of the other actions that we are ta…”

“I am not sure I would call the energy system a big lump of Jenga, but you are right to say that it is complicated, and it takes a lot longer to get things done than I would like—so maybe that is a metaphor that I will adopt. To be fair, it is a frustration within the industry as well. People want to move far faster to …”

“The warm home discount is not targeted specifically at gas customers, so again—”

“It is an avenue that we have to look at very carefully, because we have said that every penny in a bill should be scrutinised very carefully to understand the role that it plays in the bill and whether there is an alternative way of delivering that same policy. For example, the Chancellor took the conscious decision to…”

“I am grateful for that summary from the Netherlands. We have looked at rebalancing. Clearly, I understand the argument. We want to see much more electrification, and therefore the cost of electricity has to decline. The trade-off that we have been wrestling with— and that we continue to wrestle with, because fundamenta…”

“Fundamentally, that is correct. Your question was particularly around a relationship with the EU. We are obviously in negotiations at the moment. Alignment with the EU, so that we can have electricity trading, is really important. We will soon become a net exporter of electricity, and that is a really important part of…”

“The profit lies across the system. We have a privatised system from top to bottom. That is not our design but what we inherited. Inevitably, there is a profit motivation. We have regulated monopolies that deliver much, particularly in the grid. There is a recognition that if we are going to have operators in this space…”

“That is the point I was making earlier. The main threat to businesses in the UK is the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels. Even if we were to remove carbon pricing, we would simply be paying money into the EU through the CBAM. I don’t understand why that is preferential to anybody—it has not been explained to me. I would …”

“We have not set a target level because our aim is obviously to get it as low as we absolutely can. It will fluctuate given weather conditions, storage and a whole range of different demands in a particular area. It will change, and changes at the moment all the time. Our aim is obviously to get it as low as possible, a…”

“I think, in this climate, that the lesson we should take is that fossil fuels have been the cause of why consumers are paying more across the country. Anyone who can say right now with a straight face that doubling down on gas is the answer to our future energy security and to the bills crisis people are facing needs t…”

“I have said we are looking at a whole range of policies. I am not going to be drawn on one particular thing that, I am sure, will be quoted in a particular way after this meeting. What I am saying is that we are looking at a whole range of options to reduce bills. But the principle that carbon has a cost and that it is…”

“I said earlier that we are looking at absolutely everything, but there are some fundamentals that there simply is no way to go around. We are not looking at completely changing the Government’s policy on recognising the price of carbon.”

“They will not drop to zero; we are clear about that. But they will reduce significantly.”

“No, I don’t, because, fundamentally, the gas would still be more expensive even without that. The comparison I have seen, which I think is what you are referring to, assumes a load factor of gas of above 90%, which we have never run in this country. That is not how we run gas in this country. Even though the equivalent…”

“As I have just set out, we see it as an important way to lead the decarbonisation that we need to see as a country. It is about recognising that if you take gas generation and put it alongside renewables, there is an additional cost to society from that gas generation that is not otherwise recognised. That was a fairly…”

“If we plan them strategically, no. It is worth saying that data centres will also pay a significant amount for the electricity that is needed. It is not as if they are just a net cost; they will be paying for it. If we use them efficiently, there are ways that they help to reduce the overall system cost. There is also …”

“It is worth reminding ourselves why the carbon price support exists in the first place. It was introduced to incentivise the building of low-carbon infrastructure. It recognises the fact that there is a cost to carbon-intensive infrastructure; it might not be borne immediately, but it is borne in due course. Therefore,…”

“To be fair, we have said that we are on the side of consumers, which is why if we see price gouging, we will act on it. That is important right now. Also, after two weeks of seeing heating oil prices increase, we took action yesterday to provide support for the most vulnerable households across the country. It took 200…”