§ Mr. Peter DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to reduce the barriers to entry faced by potential small suppliers of electricity to the national grid.[103037]
§ Mr. WilsonWe recognise that smaller generators have concerns about the NETA market that operates in England and Wales. Significant improvements have been made since the start of NETA, particularly to improve cost reflectivity of imbalance prices and reduce imbalance price risk, which should particularly help smaller generators. There have also been improvements to reduce barriers to the consolidation of the output of smaller generators.
The Government recently announced its intention to bring forward the Electricity (Trading and Transmission) Bill as soon as Parliamentary time allows in order to implement a GB market. The draft Bill is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny. The improvements above and any future improvements will be carried across to the wider GM market.
As part of this project, the DTI, jointly with Ofgem, will shortly be issuing a consultation document on the treatment of smaller generators under BETTA. This will look specifically at any barriers to entry that may be faced by smaller generators who are connecting to the transmission system in Scotland.