Speeches by Reader.

“You have eight commissioners. Are they advisers or are they on the ground doing that engagement?”

“Talking about bringing in expertise, how is mission control engaging with the industry?”

“You will recognise that, in a controls environment, it is not just about the data. Governance, reporting and culture are really critical. Are you going to seek any independent assurance of your controls environment, such as P3M3 or similar?”

“If it is all right, Chair, I am going to eat into my time slightly to ask a couple of follow-up questions. I am really interested in the controls environment you are setting up. Apologies, I missed the start of the session. I was in a DL. You have a role for assurance. How mature would you say the controls environment …”

“There is obviously decarbonising industry, but there is still the demand management of the decarbonised energy. Is there enough focus on that from Government and industry in driving down and managing demand better from industry, particularly heavy industry?”

“We talked a lot about consumers and demand management. Do you think that there is enough being done with industry, particularly heavy industry, in managing demand from those on networks?”

“On that point around risk and perhaps riskier or more or less unproven technologies, do Government need to be clear on discarding those in the short term in terms of what they focus on so that we achieve 2030? Should Government disincentivise the riskier or more unproven stuff to make sure that we hit our targets?”

“Given the quite substantial cost, do you think we have the right balance, in terms of where Government are focusing, between renewables and these more unproven technologies?”

“Stuart, what role do you think new nuclear, SMR, and carbon capture will have in achieving 2030 specifically?”

“My next question was actually on storage, so thank you, Marcelle and Stuart, for picking that up. Adam, what is key to getting enough storage? Do you think there is enough focus in energy on the storage needed? We see a lot of focus on generation, distribution and transmission, but is there enough focus on the storage …”

“What about enabling systems around those technologies?”

“I am going to talk about the balance of technologies. What technologies would provide the most effective route to meeting the 2030 target?”

“You might have answered my question, so I will frame it slightly differently. You picked up on the point that as we have a reducing number of people using the gas network, the cost of maintaining—I know you talked about decommissioning—will sit on fewer and fewer consumers. The Government’s drive towards heat pumps is …”

“You have recognised that the costs have largely come down, but there was a big spike in standing charges, particularly through the supplier of last resort scheme. What steps have you taken to try to recoup some of the cost from the shareholders and owners of those companies that went bankrupt? Could you set out the leg…”

“We are going to talk about failing energy firms and the cost to consumers. I have a very quick question to begin with. Are you satisfied that all suppliers in the retail market are operating on a sustainable footing?”

“Your report says that it is a 91% increase in the last two years, so it has much more than doubled.”

“Current debt levels, as per your December report, are £3.82 billion. What level does debt need to get to before Government need to make a more serious intervention? We are tinkering with some ideas, but at some point there has to be a much more serious intervention to protect consumers. At what point is that going to c…”

“On that point, while you recognise that Government set the policy and you help deliver it, you do say on your website, “Where we think there are important policy gaps that affect consumers, we can call this out”. Can you give us some examples of how you have called that out?”

“Does that give confidence to my constituents now that they are going to see their energy bills reducing? They have heard for years from Government that things will get better in the future. We are now talking about 2030 as the next milestone, but people are seeing their debt and costs continuing to rise. Can they trust…”

“Thank you for coming in today. I recognise that this is your first time in front of this Committee, but you have been in front of others before. In 2022, in front of the BEIS Committee, you were asked if you were on the side of the consumer or of energy companies. You said that you were very much on the side of the con…”