Posted on November 25, 2011 by Phillip Lee

This week I was very busy at the Conservative Party Conference 2011. As a member of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee at the House of Commons, I took the opportunity to speak at three fringe events about the future of our electricity market.

In light of the 2020 goal of reducing carbon emissions by 34%, Britain’s electricity market faces significant challenges in the next decade and beyond. The market needs to bring low-carbon energy to light and heat people’s homes while enabling them to benefit from competitive prices, new technologies and products to be more energy efficient. For this to happen, we need a mix of different sources of energy whilst modernising older power supplies to become carbon efficient.

The government is actively pursuing these developments. Being the first country in the world, a £1 billion pounds investment package was granted in the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review to actively encourage the implementation of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) systems in existing power stations. This investment package is a clear signal of the governments trust in proven low-carbon generation technologies and the commitment to allow new technologies to get off the ground and become cost-effective.  As a result, independent generators and new investors will enter the market and boost competition not only within the market, but also between technologies for their appropriate role in the energy mix. In the coming decades, energy will not only be provided from cleaner sources of energy, but also more efficiently and for the least cost to the consumer.

Beside the investment in guaranteeing high energy supply, we must also find more efficient ways to save energy. This involves the development of “smarter” networks that provide real-time information to consumers and suppliers.  Real-time information on energy use will help each household to understand when and how most electricity is spend, so they can find ways to reduce it and play their part in a greener future. Smart metering will also open up new products and services, such as the provision of tailored energy efficiency advice and more innovative tariffs.

I believe that these energy policies will ensure secure low-carbon energy supplies, at least cost, and will make us the greenest government ever. But to be successful we need to ensure they are implemented effectively and efficiently. I will do my utmost to make sure that Britain is heading into a more secure and cleaner future.  

(Published in the Wokingham Times, October 2011)