Electricity Supply (Hansard, 21 January 1993)

§ 10. Mr. Beggs
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if the regulator for electricity in Northern Ireland will prepare a report on how he envisages supply competition to being available to large users within Northern Ireland after the transitional introductory period of the new bulk supply tariff; and if he will make a statement on the report provided to him by the regulator.

§ Mr. Atkins
The Director General of Electricity Supply for Northern Ireland has complete responsibility for the development of competition in the supply of electricity. I have therefore arranged for him to write to the hon. Gentleman directly on this matter.

§ Mr. Beggs
I shall await with interest the reply that is on the horizon. Is the Minister aware of just how serious the situation is, in that the higher electricity costs facing large 491 users threaten the viability of some companies, which may be forced to relocate to Great Britain? With the resultant job losses, that would be disastrous. Will he take note of the fact that the failure by the Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland and for Scotland to extend the Non-fossil Fuel Obligation Renewables Order 1991 to Northern Ireland and Scotland is preventing expansion and job creation in my own constituency, where a company has an outstanding record in manufacturing hydro-generating plant?

§ Mr. Atkins
The hon. Gentleman has raised this matter with me on numerous occasions and he knows what the Government's view is. I hope that he realises just how sympathetic the Government are to the concern that he expresses. I have also been in constant contact with a number of the large users in the Province, who have represented their concerns to me in terms not only of their own businesses, but of potential inward investment or development of the particular processes to which he refers. I can assure him that I shall continue to take this matter most seriously and to consider it as a matter of importance to ensure that the concerns that he represents are addressed in any way possible.

§ Lady Olga Maitland
What assurances will my hon. Friend give to the major users of electricity in Northern Ireland that the new price regime will not undermine the profitability of their businesses?

§ Mr. Atkins
It is fair to say that the large users in Northern Ireland have benefited from the arrangements over many years, but they have been paid for by domestic and smaller commercial users, to their detriment. Clearly, therefore, the resolution of this difficult imbalance has caused some heartburn among the very large users, but is pleasing those further down the scale. As I have indicated, I am very concerned about this matter and I have represented those views, as put to me by hon. Members and industrialists, to my colleagues within the Department of Trade and Industry. I hope that in due course we may be able to see some alleviation of the position, but in the short term it is still a difficult problem.

§ Mr. Foulkes
If the Minister is genuinely worried about the high cost of electricity in Northern Ireland, why is he promoting the interconnector with Scotland, which will provide high-cost electricity, instead of the Ballymoney lignite proposal or Kilroot phase II which will provide much cheaper electricity as well as jobs in Northern Ireland? Is it not the Minister's job to provide cheap electricity as well as jobs in Northern Ireland?

§ Mr. Atkins
I would say to the hon. Gentleman, who has waged war on this issue with a great lack of success so far, largely because he flies in the face of the facts, that Kilroot phase II was tendered for against the lignite and lignite lost because of its not being the right price. The lignite to which the hon. Gentleman referred would take much longer to develop than is his contention and would not be available to meet the shortfall of power to which he referred.
The hon. Gentleman should be aware of the environmental consequences of building a substantial opencast mine in the middle of Ballymoney with the effects on the water table, the roads and the environment. It is convenient for the hon. Gentleman to sit there 492 representing a seat in Scotland and tell Northern Ireland that it should scour its countryside for the benefit of his constituents.