Speeches by Reader.

“The discussion on fracking is perhaps one for another day. We have heard claims that there are billions of pounds to be invested, but in reality, when it comes to development, it is the public who pay the price. In some cases, taxpayers foot around 80% of the development bill. Modelling on Rosebank and ending the energ…”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“Will the Government learn from this scheme when developing support for less mature technologies in the future, to avoid creating new legacy costs for decades?”

“Do you think you could go further?”

“Would the Government consider a windfall tax on generators with ROCs as a reasonable alternative to taxpayers covering the costs or the breakeven of our contracts?”

“Let me move on to ROs. We had evidence, particularly after the autumn statement announcement. Can you foresee a time when it might be politically feasible to put the full cost of ROs back on to bills?”

“If the Department or Martin is setting these things up now, what was happening before?”

“He was invited to join us today.”

“I will come on to other questions, but on listening to the line of questioning from Graeme and Claire, is there enough focus in the Department on debt? Whenever we have Ministers come in and we see big announcements, it is always on building new stuff or it is on clean power. That is the Secretary of State’s big sexy m…”

“Would it take a private Member’s Bill to get you to agree to it? The Liberal Democrats introduced the sunshine Bill and all of a sudden it was in the future homes standard. We have not got that on batteries yet and you have said how important that is. What is the mechanism to get Government to adopt it?”

“Picking up on your comment there, Minister, you are supportive of small-scale batteries. I think you said that is a good idea. Does that mean you have won the argument with MHCLG to have it in the future homes standard? Are we going to see that mandated in the future homes that we build in the country?”

“I thank the Secretary of State for bringing forward this piece of legislation. Can he confirm that the Bill is not only about capital expenditure, but long-term maintenance, to ensure that this is a lasting legacy for the families of Grenfell?”

“I welcome the Minister’s statement, which will reassure a lot of families in Northamptonshire. Could he give us a bit more detail on the timeline under which this will be brought in, and assure people across Northamptonshire that the process will be easy to access, without bureaucracy?”

“Do you think reformed national pricing will put a downward pressure on transmission network use of system and costs?”

“Coming to my final question, we have heard that the previous transmission network use of system charges levied a lot of money on generators in the past towards building a network that was never built. Is that true?”

“The same thing to Ofgem: is there anything that you have said to DESNZ—“We should do this to reduce transmission costs”—that it has not yet done? Perhaps it is politically unattractive to it, but it technically is correct. Is there anything that you have proposed that would reduce those transmission costs, that DESNZ h…”

“You would say the current system gives the consumer best value.”

“Have you made any recommendations to DESNZ to reduce transmission costs and costs to the consumer that DESNZ has not yet adopted?”

“Are there any pieces of advice you have given to DESNZ that it has not yet adopted that could reduce the cost, if you do give advice?”

“Can we talk about distribution use of system and those costs? I think these questions are primarily for Ofgem colleagues, so NESO, you are off the hook for now. By how much might we see distribution network investment costs go up in future? Will these be the biggest part of future network costs?”