Energy Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for a wide-ranging debate and some very thought-provoking and some not quite so thought-provoking but none the less invaluable advice and comments. I will not go beyond the scope of the Bill, even though some of the advice and comments did, because this is a debate on the Energy Bill. I will therefore restrict my responses to that matter. We have had plenty of opportunity to debate in the past and will no doubt have plenty in the future and I am happy that we will debate the other issues that have been raised then. For the purposes of this summing up, I will clarify that this is a framework Bill on which is a lot of work to be done. I very much value the comments made by noble Lords. We have created the opportunity, which I am told is groundbreaking in this House, to hold breakfasts and discussions with noble Lords, to listen their views and to improve on them, and I shall continue to create those opportunities as the Bill progresses. That the Bill starts here is a good opportunity for us all to get it right, and to do so within the spirit of the Bill. I shall therefore deal with some of the broader issues that have been raised by noble Lords, take some of them together and refer to individual ones later. There have been, as noble Lords are aware, an awful lot of questions. In Committee, I shall pick up on those questions that have not been commented on, or I am very happy to correspond or discuss further with noble Lords. The noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, raised the subject of consumer protection, as did the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, and others. It is fundamental that the consumer is protected in this whole endeavour. There are two risk areas—accreditation and assessment—and the best practices must be established.