§ 24. Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the changes to be made to the setting of the pool price for electricity. [55078]
§ Mr. BattleRecognising the inadequacies in the existing trading arrangements in October last year I asked the Director General of Electricity Supply (DGES) to look into the case for reforming them. The Government believe there is a need to build an electricity market which plays a full role in facilitating competition which people understand and trust and which is responsive to customer demands.
In July of this year the DGES identified that there are significant problems with the existing pool arrangements and made proposals for new electricity trading arrangements which would effectively replace the Pool with arrangements similar to those used in other commodity markets. I have asked for work to be put in hand to develop and implement new trading arrangements using these proposals as the starting point.