My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Worthington, for these amendments, which seek to time limit the provisions on investment contracts. Amendment 55ALA would time limit the provisions in Schedule 2 of the Bill, which relate to investment contracts, to two years following enactment.
The investment contract provisions in the Bill are already time-limited. The Secretary of State can only enter into investment contracts on or before 31 December 2015. However, the remaining provisions set out in Schedule 2 cannot be time-limited, as they provide the Secretary of State with the necessary powers to administer and make payments under investment contracts in the unlikely event that the enduring EMR regime is substantially delayed or does not come into force at all. In the main, the powers mirror those in Chapter 2 of the Bill on contracts for difference.
If payments had to be made under an investment contract, it is likely that they would need to be made for considerably longer than two years, potentially for the duration of the contract. The effect of time-limiting the investment contract provisions through this amendment would be that developers would not have the confidence to take final investment decisions on much needed low-carbon generation projects that might otherwise be delayed or cancelled, as there would no longer be a means to make payments under the contracts. The amendment would therefore negate the purpose of these powers and risk creating the investment hiatus that they are intended to address.
Amendment 55ALC seeks to amend the powers relating to varied investment contracts. A varied investment contract will, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, materially increase the likely cost to consumers of electricity. To ensure transparency, the Bill requires that varied investment contracts are laid before Parliament together with a statement explaining why the variation is appropriate, having regard to the likely cost to consumers.
This amendment would require that varied investment contracts could be laid before Parliament only up to 31 December 2015. There would, therefore, be no possibility to make amendments pursuant to this provision after this date. While it is not the Government’s policy intention to reopen investment contracts for further negotiation once they are agreed, this clause provides for useful flexibility should it be necessary—for example to comply, as the noble Baroness rightly points out, with state aid rules.
Before I ask the noble Baroness to withdraw her amendment, I would like to respond to her question on the number of CCS and nuclear final investment decision applications. Apart from the renewable developers, we are in discussions on the potential investment contract for Hinkley Point C which, if agreed, will build a 3.2 gigawatt nuclear point plant. As the noble Baroness is aware, these hugely sensitive negotiations are ongoing and it would be imprudent of me to go further than that. I can say that, while it may have gone quiet out there, we are currently in very close discussions. A number of CCS developers have approached the department for FID arrangements.
The noble Baroness asked about the timetable changing from autumn 2013 to March 2014. That is because we are using the final strike prices and final contract terms instead of draft pricing and draft terms.