§ 8. John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)What plans she has to facilitate the connection to the national electricity grid at affordable prices of potential consumers living in remote areas. [177759]
§ The Minister for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services (Mr. Stephen Timms)I have no new plans to announce on this. There are no firm data on homes without mains electricity, although the proportion is thought to be less than 1 per cent. Certainly the vast majority of properties for which mains connection is cost-effective have already been connected. Properties without a grid connection tend to be in very remote locations without neighbours with whom connection costs could be shared, so there is a substantial cost barrier.
§ John ThursoI am grateful to the Minister for that answer. I draw his attention to one of my constituents who lives relatively near the village of Lairg, but who is two miles away from the grid and would have to pay about £50,000 to be connected. Does the Minister recall that when the Hydro Board was set up, a statutory duty was laid on it to enable people in remote areas to be connected to the grid? In many rural areas in the United Kingdom, there are still homes for which connection to the grid is prohibitively expensive. As wind generation is being put in place in many such areas, will the Minister consider a scheme to lay a statutory obligation on wind generators to help the people who host the generating facilities to be connected?
§ Mr. TimmsI am not familiar with the case of the hon. Gentleman's constituent. I draw to his attention the fact that there is a safeguard in the system: once a formal request for connection has been made, the person can seek a determination on the terms that are being offered from Ofgem. Ofgem is empowered to make a determination on the appropriateness of the charges and the terms. Whether that will be helpful in this particular case, I do not know.
The hon. Gentleman raises the previous arrangements that applied in the north of Scotland, and he will welcome the steps that we are taking in the interests of electricity customers there. For example, in the Energy Bill, we are introducing a replacement for the hydro benefits scheme, which may well be of similar age to the one to which he referred, to protect customers from the impact of high distribution costs in that region. We are also replacing the common tariff obligation to ensure that rural customers in the north of Scotland are not discriminated against in favour of urban customers. That will be in the interests of quite a number of the hon. Gentleman's constituents.
I am afraid that I cannot offer the hon. Gentleman the prospect of additional legislation to place obligations on parties in the way that he proposes, because in some instances the cost of connecting a remote location could be very high indeed. It would be unfair to expect other customers to subsidise what might be a costly arrangement.
§ Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby) (Lab)I know that my hon. Friend has visited my constituency on a personal basis, but he has generally been there in the summer. During the winter period, my constituents who live in remote locations in the North York Moors national park and along the coast in Scarborough and Whitby are vulnerable to loss of supply, often for many days, if not weeks, when power supply cables are blown down. Does he have any proposals to hold discussions, or does he keep under review with the electricity supply companies the quality and nature of the infrastructure that links such customers? The fact that supply cables are blown down and people are disconnected in winter often comes down to the need to reinforce the infrastructure; we need better security of supply.
§ Mr. TimmsI am a great admirer of my hon. Friend's constituency and I always enjoy visiting it. He raises important issues, which were highlighted by the storms 395 of October 2002, when we saw serious disruption to the electricity supply in many parts of the country. A great deal of work has been done since then. The Select Committee on Trade and Industry carried out a valuable investigation that highlighted many of the issues. We have seen significant improvements in the procedures followed by the electricity distribution companies, and I hope that my hon. Friend's constituents will benefit from that. I hope that my hon. Friend will see improvements, but if he feels that insufficient progress is being made, I will be happy to have a look at the issues in his constituency.