Select committee: Welsh Affairs Committee
Recommendation 16
First Report - Grid Capacity in Wales
Published 21 Oct 2022
Paragraph 90
Addressed to Wales Office
Welsh Affairs Committee Grid capacity in Wales All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We are encouraged to see the new Electricity Networks Commissioner appointed with a remit to reduce timelines and look forward to understanding in more detail how this will be achieved. However, it is not clear that the UK Government appreciates that a step change is necessary to deliver a streamlined planning and consent process that enables the achievement of net zero targets. We call on the UK Government to produce a projected timeline for how it will reduce processing times by fifty per cent within a year.
From: Welsh Affairs Committee, First Report - Grid Capacity in Wales (HC 218), paragraph 90, 21 October 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 24 January 2023 (deadline 21 December 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and says it will continue work on strategic planning, regulatory approval, planning consents and streamlining connections, while declining some recommendations on working groups, legislation and Ofgem's duty.
- On Ofgem's primary duty, the government "does not consider an amendment to Ofgem's primary duty to be necessary", saying the duty to protect consumers' interests already includes reducing emissions in line with net zero.
- On community energy, it will not establish a working group "at this time", citing the existing Community Energy Contact Group, and has "no plans to bring forward legislative proposals, at this time".
- On connection costs, it notes that from April 2023 Ofgem will socialise a further proportion of network reinforcement costs for distribution connection customers, which "will reduce the upfront cost".
- On planning, it intends to publish a full NSIP Reform Action Plan and consultations "in due course", and says revised energy National Policy Statements will be published "soon".