Barker: DECC needs to promote new energy ‘narrative’

The Department of Energy and Climate Change needs to put forward the “new narrative” behind its energy policy overhaul in order to allay industry concerns, former energy secretary Lord Barker has said.

Speaking at the Renewable Energy Association’s ‘Renewable Futures’ event last week, Barker claimed that secretary of state Amber Rudd has had to “sit the discussion out” over the last few months while the government’s critical spending review and feed-in tariff consultation have been up for discussion.

However once that consultation response is published – DECC has repeatedly claimed a response will be forthcoming before the end of the year – Barker said that DECC must then come forward with its views on the future of energy policy.

“Then people will understand… the certainty is to know where the journey is headed,” Barker said.

While Rudd has refrained from providing detailed explanations for policy decisions to date, she and energy minister Andrea Leadsom have repeatedly justified proposed cuts to the feed-in tariff and Renewables Obligation by pointing towards a purported overspend in the Levy Control Framework and a need to protect consumers from higher bills.

But policy decisions made since the Conservatives’ election win in May have led to serious doubts over investor confidence in the UK’s energy market, resulting in a select committee inquiry and a damning assessment by the country’s ‘Big Six’ utilities.

Meanwhile Rudd’s predecessor Ed Davey, also speaking at the REA event, called on DECC to raise the minimum import price (MIP) issue with the European Commission, labelling it as “the best thing they [DECC] could do”.

The subject of the MIP, which artificially increases the prices of solar modules in order to protect European manufacturers from Chinese dumping, has grown as the government’s feed-in tariff consultation has dragged on.

Earlier this month the Commission addressed solar manufacturers and trade associations across Europe as it looked into a possible investigation of extending the anti-dumping duties, which are currently set to expire on 7 December 2015.