UK Parliament / Open data

Energy Bill

Proceeding contribution from Michael Fallon (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 4 December 2013. It occurred during Debate on bills on Energy Bill.

As I said, we hope to sign the first FEED contracts by the end of the year. They will involve a couple of years of engineering study. It will take some time for CCS to be scalable across the system, but we are committing a great deal of money to it and a great deal of effort to the two projects at Peterhead and Drax. I am in no doubt that we have technology that we can exploit, but it will take time.

In the end, as I said, this is a judgment. Is it right now to accelerate the closure of coal and to force all coal off the system by 2025? In my view, that will add to the risks to security of supply and—I must say this to my hon. Friends on the Liberal Democrat Benches—will certainly add to the costs for our constituents. We estimate that if coal disappears by 2025, there will be an increase in domestic bills of about 3% to 4%, or about £22 to £28, and an increase in non-domestic bills of between 4% and 6%. A large number of Members from all parties attended the debate in Westminster Hall this morning and complained about

the costs being imposed on energy-intensive industries, and we estimate that their costs will increase by between 5% and 7%.

This proposal will increase the risks to our security of supply and add to the expense of our constituents. I think that is too great a risk and too high an additional expense and I urge the House to reject the amendment.

Question put, That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 105.

About this proceeding contribution

Reference

571 cc964-5 

Session

2013-14

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber
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