UK Government 'going on Holiday' to avoid scrutiny?

Reacting to today’s announcement from DECC regarding renewable energy contracts, the Chair of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, Angus Macneil MP, commented:

"I am disappointed that the Government has made these announcements after the House of Commons has risen for the summer recess, as proper scrutiny in Parliament will now not be possible until after the consultation deadlines.

The measures announced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change today raise more alarming questions for investors in low carbon, renewable technologies who are already struggling to finance projects after a series of sudden policy changes. The latest changes remove the current certainty for the lowest cost renewable technologies whilst failing to provide any indication of the future investment landscape. DECC has stated that it will set out totals for the Levy Control Framework beyond 2020 but has given no indication of when it will provide this information, leaving industry in limbo.

Energy developers seeking support under the Contracts for Difference will now be left waiting for DECC to announce its plans for future CfD allocations. It is important that value for money is at heart of decision making on energy, but removing this certainty today actually risks raising the cost of capital, thus slowing down the steep cost-reduction pathway of technologies that will be needed in the next decade. Removing support for the lowest cost renewable technologies calls into question once more the Government's commitment to meeting our medium- and long-term decarbonisation targets, sending out a worrying signal in the run up to the Paris climate change conference."