The government issued revised guidance (following the Energy White Paper) on the contribution that the energy regulator should make towards the attainment of the government's social and environmental policies.
Source: Draft Social and Environmental Guidance to the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500)
Links: Guidance (pdf)
Date: 2003-Dec
The Energy Bill was introduced in the House of Lords. The Bill was designed to promote cleaner, greener power and help meet the target of producing 10.4 per cent of the country's power through renewables by 2010.
Source: Energy Bill [HL], Department of Trade and Industry, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill
Date: 2003-Dec
The government began consultation on a new planning statement on renewable energy. It said that long-term environmental considerations should be taken into account by local planning authorities.
Source: Consultation on Draft New Planning Policy Statement 22 (PPS22): Renewable Energy, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | ODPM press release | CPRE press release
Date: 2003-Nov
The government rejected a claim by a committee of MPs that it did not have a clear implementation plan for the energy policy set out in its White Paper. It said that, over the period to 2020, the policy measures proposed in the White Paper - on emissions trading, renewables and energy efficiency - might add around 5-15 per cent to household electricity prices and less than 5 per cent to household gas prices.
Source: Government Response to the Committee's Eighth Report on the Energy White Paper - Empowering Change?, Eighth Special Report (Session 2002-03), HC 1333, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2003-Nov
The government published an Energy Bill. It said the legislation, introduced in the House of Lords, would promote cleaner, greener power and help meet the target of producing 10.4 per cent of the country's power through renewables by 2010.
Source: Energy Bill [HL], Department of Trade and Industry, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | DTI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Nov
An official working group proposed a pilot scheme under which electricity customers would be offered cheaper boilers, free home insulation and lower bills. Power companies would be allowed to sign up consumers to longer-term contracts under the pilot scheme, due to start in the spring of 2004. It would involve scrapping rules enabling customers to switch suppliers after 28 days. The government gave approval for the pilot.
Source: Energy Services Working Group, ESWG Interim Report to Ministers, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500) | Press release 24 November 2003, Department of Trade and Industry (020 7215 5000)
Links: ESWG report (pdf) | DTI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Nov
An Act to promote sustainable energy policies received Royal assent. The Act formalised government targets for renewables, energy efficiency, combined heat and power, and carbon dioxide emissions.
Source: Sustainable Energy Act 2003, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act
Date: 2003-Oct
A report identified the policy measures that the government should adopt to restructure the energy market and so enable greater renewables supply for large-scale industrial users.
Source: Guy Thompson and Jamie Wallace, Powering Ahead?: Challenges for BT and the government in accessing secure and ambitious supplies of renewable electricity, Forum for the Future (020 7251 6070)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary of recommendations
Date: 2003-Oct
A think-tank paper argued that the energy challenges of resource depletion, security of supply and pollution had been effectively addressed by market entrepreneurship, technology, and measured regulation. The balance of evidence supported a benign enhanced greenhouse effect, and the case for mandatory greenhouse gas reductions depended on unrealistic assumptions.
Source: Robert Bradley, Climate Alarmism Reconsidered, Institute of Economic Affairs (020 7799 8900)
Links: Report (pdf) | IEA press release
Date: 2003-Sep
The government began consultation on specific economic instruments to improve household energy efficiency, such as reduced rates of value added tax on some products or services.
Source: Economic Instruments to Improve Household Energy Efficiency: Consultation document on specific measures, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | HMT press release
Date: 2003-Aug
A private member's Bill to promote sustainable energy policies was given a third reading. The Bill aimed to formalise government targets for renewables, energy efficiency, combined heat and power, and carbon dioxide emissions.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 4.7.03, columns 714-721, TSO | Sustainable Energy Bill, Brian White MP, TSO (0870 600 5522) | The Sustainable Energy Bill, Research Paper 03/29, House of Commons Library (web publication only)
Links: Hansard | Text of Bill | HOC Library research paper (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jul
The government published proposals for a major expansion of offshore windfarms, designed to provide up to 6 gigawatts of new energy generation by 2010 - enough to power 15 per cent of all households in the United Kingdom.
Source: Press release 14.7.03, Department of Trade and Industry (020 7215 5000)
Links: DTI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jul
A committee of MPs said that the government's White Paper on energy policy represented a major shift in approach, and welcomed the priority given to environmental objectives, renewables and energy efficiency. But it said that the White Paper was weak on specific measures, and that it was 'incomprehensible' that the government was unable to publish an implementation plan as a supporting document.
Source: Energy White Paper - Empowering Change?, Eighth Report (Session 2002-03), HC 618, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2003-Jul
A think-tank report said that tax breaks intended to favour environmentally friendly fuels did not reward those which were least damaging to the environment. It argued that tax incentives should benefit biofuels instead of liquefied petroleum gas.
Source: Julie Foley, Tomorrow s Low Carbon Cars, Institute for Public Policy Research, available from Central Books (0845 458 9911)
Links: Report (pdf) | IPPR press release
Date: 2003-Jun
The Northern Ireland Executive published (for consultation) a strategy document on energy. Its primary focus was a reduction in energy costs, particularly of electricity.
Source: Towards a New Energy Strategy for Northern Ireland, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment/Northern Ireland Executive (028 9052 9650)
Links: Consultation Paper (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jun
The government began consultation on draft guidelines designed to give the energy regulator an expanded role in promoting social and environmental objectives.
Source: Draft Social and Environmental Guidance to the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | DTI press release
Date: 2003-Jun
A think-tank pamphlet argued that the government's energy policy was both timid (for example over a carbon tax and the problem of transport) and reckless (for its optimistic assumptions about renewable sources). It called for the maximisation of 'clean' energy sources, including nuclear power.
Source: Ian Fells, A Cloudy Energy Future, Adam Smith Institute (020 7222 4995)
Links: Pamphlet (pdf)
Date: 2003-Apr
The government said it shared the view (expressed by a committee of MPs) that the United Kingdom's climate change commitments should preferably be achieved through radical improvements in energy efficiency and through increasing supply from renewable sources.
Source: A Sustainable Energy Strategy? Renewables and the PIU Review: Government Response to the Committee's Fifth Report of Session 2001-02, Second Special Report (Session 2002-03), HC 471, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2003-Mar
The government published its response to the 22nd Report of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (on energy policy and climate change). It accepted the recommendation that the United Kingdom should aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by around 60 per cent from current levels by 2050.
Source: The UK Government Response to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution s Twenty-Second Report: Energy - The Changing Climate, Cm 5766, Department for Environment, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response (pdf) | Defra press release
Date: 2003-Feb
The government published a White Paper on energy policy. It said that plans for further nuclear power stations should be deferred while renewable sources (such as wind and wave power) were given an opportunity to demonstrate their potential.
Source: Our Energy Future - Creating a low carbon economy, Cm 5761, Department of Trade and Industry, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 24 February 2003, columns 26-42, TSO
Links: White Paper (pdf) | Summary | DTI press release | Hansard | FOE press release
Date: 2003-Feb
A think-tank report argued that the government must make achieving a radical reduction in carbon dioxide emissions the primary aim of its energy policy if it is to meet long-term climate change objectives. But it opposed the construction of further nuclear power stations.
Source: Alex Evans, The Generation Gap: Scenarios for UK Electricity in 2020, Institute for Public Policy Research (web publication only)
Links: Report (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2003-Jan