Energy Bill

I am grateful to hon. Members for their new clauses. This has been a useful debate which has teased out some of the crucial issues and raised some interesting and novel ideas. The Government new clause on smart metering represents the most appropriate way forward. Following the guarded support of the hon. Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry) for where we are, I now have one and a half reasons to be cheerful. I am grateful for that as progress of sorts. We are all in agreement about the wide range of potential benefits for energy suppliers and business and domestic customers. We would also agree that in principle we would want those benefits to be delivered as soon as possible. However, we also recognise that a roll-out of smart meters to all energy consumers would be a complex and highly challenging project, and with one opportunity to get the legislative framework right. Although the Government intend to move forward with smart metering for medium-sized business, we need to undertake further work with stakeholders fully to understand the costs and benefits of smart meter roll-out to small businesses and the crucial domestic sector before coming to a final view. In the context of the policy approach to smart meters that I have described, I must resist new clauses 1 and 3, which seek to specify in the Bill some of the technical details, including the timing of a roll-out and the functions of a meter. At this stage, we need to maintain flexibility in defining some of the details while we complete our analysis and work with stakeholders to identify the optimum, most cost-effective roll-out. I make no apology for being worried about cost-effectiveness. I believe that this is the best approach as we develop our understanding of this evolving regulatory arena. That is one of the key differences in our approach and one of the reasons why I am resisting hon. Members' new clauses. The additional parliamentary scrutiny provided for in new clause 9 is another important difference between Government amendments and those tabled by hon. Members, although I am sure that they agree that our scrutiny is important. The Government new clause means that we can move forward with smart metering for medium-sized businesses now and, subject to further analysis and informal consultation, be in a position to act as quickly as possible to roll out smart meters to the small business and domestic sector should our final analysis support that, as I hope that it will. My hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman), very much in agreement with the Liberal Democrat spokesman, had some intriguing ideas about how the smart meter could become the smartest of meters and the smartest of friends to the consumer in identifying, whether on a minute-by-minute or a daily basis, the best option for the householder.