ADBA calls on new BEIS Select Committee to review embedded benefits changes

We are still waiting to hear back from our joint letter to BEIS Secretary of State Greg Clark MP on embedded benefits that we submitted in April. In the meantime, ADBA has suggested to the ADE – who led on the letter – that we send a similar letter to the new Chair of the BEIS Committee to see if they would look into the issue further.

You can find the latest information on the changes to network charging here.

The joint letter that we have now sent to the Rachel Reeves MP, Chairperson of the BEIS Committee, notes that it is right that Government and Parliament relies on Ofgem to provide independent decisions regarding network regulations. However, with such significant impacts across all of energy policy, it is equally right for Parliament to ensure Ofgem is taking the necessary longer-term, strategic steps to deliver the UK’s policy goals and deliver best value for consumers. As such we see a key role for the Committee to ensure that both Government and Regulator is undertaking the necessary reviews, considerations and analysis before this change is fully implemented in 2020.

In the letter we ask the Committee, as it considers its work for the forthcoming Parliament, to explore key questions for consumers, including:

• The cause of the escalating costs of Great Britain’s transmission networks;
• The impact of reducing the embedded benefit on long-term transmission and distribution network costs;
• The positive benefits of demand reduction and distributed generation on fast-rising network costs;
• Whether Ofgem’s decision will fairly reward small generators and businesses for the benefits they provide to electricity network costs; and,
• Whether the impacts of the embedded benefit reduction on business energy costs have been considered in the Industrial Strategy, and whether the impacts on battery storage and small generators have been considered in the Smart Energy Plan.

Please get in touch with me if you have any questions regarding embedded benefits and changes to network charging. I can be reached via email at thom.koller@adbioresources.org or by phone on 020 3176 0592.