The Energy Bill complements the Climate Change Bill to address the need to tackle climate change through the reduction of carbon emissions through increasing energy efficiency particularly through the use of energy from renewable sources. The Labour party set out a programme to promote renewable energy in its 2005 manifesto.

The Bill will strengthen the regulatory framework for private sector investment in the offshore oil and gas sector and carbon capture and storage. It will also strengthen the renewables obligation.

In the event that private sector investment in new nuclear power stations is to go ahead, the Bill would create a framework to protect the taxpayer by requiring owners to cover decommissioning and waste management costs. This will be decided once the current consultation has closed.

The Bill follows “The Energy Challenge” white paper, which was published in July 2006 as a result of the government’s energy review.

Secretary of state for business, enterprise and regulatory reform, John Hutton, introduced the second reading debate of the Energy Bill in the Commons on January 22.

He said; “Changing the way in which we produce and use energy will have an important role to play in meeting targets that we have set ourselves. We must ensure that we have the widest possible range of cleaner, low-carbon energy sources and technologies.”

He went on to talk about maintaining the security of energy supplies and storage infrastructure and how the Bill will help deliver targets.

Issues discussed during the debate include; offshore wind generation, energy mix, feed-in tariffs, renewable obligation certificates, microgeneration, carbon capture and storage, fuel poverty and nuclear waste.

Shadow secretary of state for business, enterprise and regulatory reform Alan Duncan contributed. He said “The government’s attempts to disguise their incoherence on renewables with targets set far ahead in a fantasy future are now unravelling”.

He noted the need to balance nuclear power with renewable energy.

Adam Ingram (Lab, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow) offered his support for the use of nuclear power “as part of a balanced energy policy”.

Steve Webb (Lib Dem, Northavon) called the Bill “profoundly disappointing”. He went on; “It contains very little on matters such as energy efficiency. Surely an Energy Bill should legitimately deal with that, but where is it? There should be so much more about energy conservation—in the home, for example. Where is all of that? Where is the serious material on microgeneration and distributed power?”

Minister of state, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Malcolm Wicks concluded the debate for the government. He said; “Energy security is no longer simply a technical matter to do with supply, but an increasingly important aspect of national security.”

House of Commons

First reading: January 10 2008 [HC Bill 53]

Second reading: January 22 2008

Energy Bill Committee:

• 1st sitting: February 5 2008 (am)
• 2nd sitting: February 5 2008 (pm)
• 3rd sitting: February 19 2008 (am)
• 4th sitting: February 21 2008 (am)
• 5th sitting: February 21 2008 (pm)
• 6th sitting: February 26 2008 (am)
• 7th sitting: February 26 2008 (pm)
• 8th sitting: February 28 2008 (am)
• 9th sitting: February 28 2008 (pm)
• 10th sitting: March 4 2008 (am)
• 11th sitting: March 4 2008 (pm)
• 12th sitting: March 6 2008 (am)
• 13th sitting: March 6 2008 (pm)
• 14th sitting: March 11 2008 (am)
• 15th sitting: March 11 2008 (pm)
• Bill as amended: HC Bill 79

Report stage: April 30 2008

Third reading: April 30 2008

House of Lords

First reading: May 1 2008 [HL BILL 52]

Second reading: May 21 2008