HC Deb 14 June 1976 vol 913 cc16-7
12. Mr. Ioan Evans

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what discussions he has recently had with the chairmen of the gas, electricity and coal boards and the Chairman of the British National Oil Corporation regarding the formulation of a national energy policy.

Mr. Benn

I am in regular and frequent contact with the chairmen of the nationalised industries for which I am responsible. I last met the coal, gas and electricity chairmen on 20th May, and I look forward to meeting them again, with the Chairman of BNOC, at the National Energy Conference on 22nd June.

Mr. Evans

May I thank my right hon. Friend for taking the initiative in calling the conference? Does he recognise that while offshore oil and natural gas resources are a bonus to the energy needs of the country, coal will play an important part for many years to come, and that when gas and oil are exhausted we may wish to exploit our coal resources?

Mr. Benn

Yes, indeed. My hon. Friend was in Cardiff on Saturday, when I said that when the present oil and gas reserves were exhausted, and present nuclear power stations had been concreted over, we should have 300 years of coal reserves at our present rate of consumption. Although much of the glamour attaches to oil and gas, coal remains the foundation of our energy policy. That is reflected in the energy planning that I have in mind.

Mr. Gray

When the Secretary of State is drawing up a national energy policy, will he bear in mind that the profit motive that is so obvious in the private sector can do a great deal of good, and can even rub off on the industries which are nationalised and nationally controlled? Will he ensure that that fact plays a prominent part in his discussions?

Mr. Benn

Everybody recognises—I certainly do—that when massive sums of money are required for investment a proper return should be expected from that investment. But I also think that with the uncertainties associated with world energy supplies, notably the sudden quintupling of the price of oil in 1973, to try to build an energy policy on the basis of reproducing in the public sector an imitation of a market economy, as was done before 1973, was a disastrous error, because it omitted wider considerations of the need for long-term planning. If we are to engage in the development of resources, we must also be sure that those resources are utilised. That is why a coal investment programme must be accompanied by a coal-bum programme and why we must relate all these things in a rational way. There are long lead times and great uncertainty. This does not lend itself to the reappearance of Adam Smith as the guider of the nation's energy policy.