Energy Bill [HL]

The noble Lord has such talent in one body. So we have 20 days’ storage. The noble Lord, Lord Hannay, said quite reasonably that we should compare ourselves to other countries. Obviously, Germany and France have more than that, but they do not have their own gas supply. They are entirely reliant on what used to be called the old Iron Curtain countries for their supply. I would be concerned about the security of supply in the light of some of the endeavours that they have been through. We in this country still produce 50 per cent of our own gas and we are still finding more gas, which will not, admittedly, stop the supply being eroded, but will decelerate the erosion. We have a secure contract. The noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, suggested that we must have good long-term contracts; we probably have as good a long-term contract as any country in the world with Norway, from whom we receive 20 per cent of our supply, managed by Shell, the former company of the noble Lord, Lord Oxburgh—and a marvellous job it does as well. My own view is that we have a very significant secure supply. Let us look at the matter of storage. Yes, we have given planning permission to various endeavours, but at the moment the cost of storing gas is significantly higher than the price of storing oil, so not unsurprisingly people are giving due consideration to the commercial viability of this project. Of course, part of the thing that we must do in government is to weigh up the pros and cons and absolutely ensure that the nation has security of supply, which is fundamental to all Governments, and to be able to gauge that. We have not had a greater opportunity to gauge that than the unfortunate months of November and December last year, which were beyond record for bad weather, when we came through with flying colours. There were certain countries—and we shall not mention the names—that did not do so. Given the tests that we have had, we have come through with flying colours. We should not be complacent, of course. That is why we have acted swiftly to engage in planning permission and to make it much easier for big infrastructure projects to be authorised quickly. But we cannot sit in government and insist that certain things are going to be carried out unless they have gone through proper consultation. In many ways, the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, gave me the answer to the question posed by his excellent amendment. Ofgem is already considering our requirements and carrying out a significant code review consultation, which will be produced at the end of February, on the resilience of our gas energy supply. It would be right for us to take on board what Ofgem has to say, to review it and then carry out what powers are necessary to ensure that, if there are areas that need to be dealt, the Government deal with them. I hope that that sets the scene for the current gas supply situation. I hope that it answers a number of the excellent questions that noble Lords have asked and allows my noble friend Lord Jenkin to withdraw his amendment.