The microgeneration industry today welcomed the latest stage in the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill. The Bill completed its committee stage in the House of Commons on Tuesday 28th February. The industry has paid tribute to all Committee members, particularly the sponsoring MP, Mark Lazarowicz, his colleague Alan Whitehead, the Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks, DTI and DEFRA officials, and the opposition spokesmen, Gregory Barker, Andrew Stunell and Mike Weir, for their constructive approach in getting the Bill this far with strong cross-party support.

Progress on the Bill’s passage through its Commons committee stages has been better than we expected, so far delivering all of the Council’s main objectives. The Bill now contains the following valuable measures for microgeneration:

• National targets - a conditional statutory duty on the government to set national targets for the uptake of microgeneration. These targets will be set in the light of additional research and analysis which should give us the opportunity to influence the outcome to achieve more challenging targets than might be set on the basis of today’s limited available research.
• Permitted Development - a statutory duty to review and change permitted development orders to facilitate the development of microgeneration within the curtilage of a
• Power exports - the ability after one year for the government to introduce a scheme for rewarding power exports. The year’s gap is intended to allow electricity suppliers to come up with their own scheme.
• Building Regulations/Code for Sustainable Homes - the ability to introduce Building Regulations in respect of microgeneration, accompanied by a Ministerial commitment to use the Code for Sustainable Homes to promote microgeneration.
• Promotion of renewable heat - a statutory duty to promote renewable heat. This is stronger than the original drafting, as it is a duty rather than an enabling power, which the government could have chosen not to exercise. The other change is that the ability to make regulations to introduce the prescriptive measure of the Renewable Heat Obligation, has been dropped.
• Parish Council Energy Schemes – a permissive power for parish councils to introduce Local Energy Schemes. These could, for example, include parish council endorsement of promotional schemes for the installation of microgeneration, or more direct council involvement, for example through providing additional funding.
• A modification to Ofgem’s statutory duties to require it to take into account available information on microgeneration.
• Dynamic demand – the provision originally introduced in the Management of Energy in Buildings Bill has been strengthened and expanded to include microgeneration. This requires the government to report to Parliament on the potential for automatic control of dynamic demand technologies (the definition of which now includes microgeneration).
• Expansion of the Energy Efficiency Commitment –the scope of the Energy Efficiency Commitment could be even wider than we had asked. If the Bill becomes law, the “energy efficiency target” will become a “carbon emissions reduction target”, the meaning of which includes:
  • Measures to improve energy efficiency
  • Measures for increasing the amount of electricity generated or heat produced by microgeneration
  • Any other measures for increasing the amount of electricity generated or heat produced using low emissions sources or technologies
  • Measures for reducing the consumption of any source of energy
• Simplification of access to ROCs – key changes to the Renewables Obligation to allow easier access to ROCs are now part of the Bill. We have been lobbying for these changes for almost a year, and they include the removal of the bureaucratic requirement for a “sale and buy-back” agreement, and allow the output of a number of individual generators to be aggregated in order to reduce transaction costs.

Renewable heat duty remains part of the Bill - the government did not make any attempt to remove the clause providing it with a statutory duty to promote renewable heat, and to report annually to Parliament on steps they both have taken and any further steps proposed.

The Bill will now go forward to its Report Stage and Third Reading in the House of Commons on Friday 10th March. The Micropower Council is urging all MPs to attend the House to vote to ensure that this important Bill becomes law.

For further details contact: Jane Vaus at jane.vaus@micropower.co.uk or call 020 7924 0795/077480 10447

NOTES:

The Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill is designed to bring into place the necessary policies and targets to help microgeneration for all become a reality. Microgeneration, the generation of energy by individual householders or groups of householders, offers a key energy source with minimal pollution. It has the advantage of not only helping combat climate change and alleviating fuel poverty but also engaging consumers with doing their bit to cut climate emissions.

Details of the Bill can be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmscclim.htm and http://www.marklazarowicz.org.uk/ The Bill has cross party support and an Early Day Motion (No: 391) supporting the Bill has been signed by over 300 cross party MPs.