My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their helpful remarks and questions. It has been a well-informed discussion. These are complex measures and, quite rightly, my noble friends and other noble Lords have asked for clarification. If I do not respond to any questions raised during the debate, perhaps it might be helpful if I undertake to write to noble Lords and place copies in the Library. There were a large number of questions and it may well be that we have overlooked some of them.
I start with the questions posed by my noble friend Lord Jenkin. I would like to put on record my apology to my noble friend for responding to his letter rather late. There were gremlins a-playing and I can only blame them. I hope my noble friend will agree that usually I try my level best to give prompt—and maybe lengthy—responses to questions that he and other noble Lords put to me in the department.
We want to ensure that independent generators are very much part of what we are trying to deliver; making sure that the lights stay on, and driving down costs to the consumer through competition. A number of questions were put to me around that matter. My noble friend raised the issue but other noble Lords have added their concerns about why it cannot be April rather than the October date that has been laid out. I will try my utmost to bring the date as far forward as I can and I will be happy to meet independent generators to give those assurances. However, noble Lords who know me will know that I would rather play on the side of caution. Rather than over-promise and then fail to deliver, I would prefer to put in place a date I feel I can deliver. That does not stop me—I hope my noble friend and other noble Lords will take away this assurance—from pushing to get an earlier date, but I felt I could deliver on the October date.
As always, my summer holiday will be spent pushing dates with officials, but perhaps my noble friend can take back to the independent generators that the date is not set in stone; that it is there because I would rather not over-promise. I am willing to work closely with the independent generators and I would be happy to meet them and reassure them. Perhaps my noble friend will take up that offer.
My noble friend asked how much capacity will be procured. The Secretary of State confirmed on 30 June that the first delivery year will procure 53.3 gigawatts for 2018-19. These will be procured at two auctions: one later this year will procure 50.8 gigawatts, and the second phase in 2017 will procure 2.5 gigawatts. He also asked if the indicative CFD budget included the contract for the capacity measure. The answer is no. The interactive budget numbers published this morning relate only to the CFD mechanism.
My noble friend inquired about the Bill’s impact on the CFD. My department’s latest analysis suggests that household electricity bills will, on average, be
about 6% lower per year over the period 2014-30 under EMR compared to meeting the Government’s objectives under the existing policy instruments. It is estimated that the annual electricity bills of businesses will be around 7% to 8% lower.