§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what he estimates the cost of delay will be to consumers and industry if the New Electricity Trading Arrangements are not implemented by 27 March. [146951]
§ Mr. HainWhile we have already seen some of the benefit of the New Electricity Trading Arrangements (NETA) through lower forward prices over the past year, clearly the full benefit of NETA will not be realised until it is actually introduced. The priority is therefore to ensure that NETA is implemented on 27 March, as the target implementation date confirmed by Ofgem on 31 January.
§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what measures Ofgem are carrying out to ensure that the new electricity trading arrangements will be implemented by 27 March; [146949]
(2) when he will announce whether the new electricity arrangements are on course to go live on 27 March. [146948]
§ Mr. HainWhen the revised timetable for the implementation of the New Electricity Trading Arrangements (NETA) was announced last October, it was the result of a comprehensive replanning exercise466W undertaken by Ofgem. Since then, Ofgem have closely monitored the progress of the project against a series of key milestones. The programme is now moving into the final phase of testing, known as Unified Pre-production and, subject to the successful outcome of this, NETA remains on course for implementation on 27 March.
I also refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton (Mrs. Gilroy) on 31 January 2001, Official Report, column 188W.