Government response to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee report: The Price of Power: Reforming the Electricity Market

This is the government's response, published 26 April 2017.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government welcomes the report and states that it "believes the current policy framework provides the tools" to deliver secure, affordable and clean energy, while agreeing with some recommendations and not agreeing with others.

• On security of supply, the Government agrees that supplies must be "reliable, affordable and clean" but "does not agree that it has been guilty of overlooking security of supply", citing a reliability standard of 3 hours a year loss of load expectation and the Capacity Market.
• On an alternative auction system, the Government "notes" the Committee's recommendation and believes the current system of competitive allocation of support "works well", pointing to cost reductions in the 2015 Contracts for Difference round.
• On an Energy Commission, the Government is "not convinced" that a new statutory body is necessary and says it "may instead create an additional level of bureaucracy".
• On Hinkley Point C delay, the Government says the Capacity Market can make good any delay, and that decisions on the likelihood of a delay and any adjustment to capacity secured will be taken in 2020/21.

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