A window of opportunity for Decc

Tom Greatrex urges Energy Secretary Amber Rudd to take time to reflect over summer on the “underlying assumptions” driving policy at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The week before Parliament goes into recess for the summer is often replete with announcements from government departments. While sometimes there is a desire to get unpopular or controversial issues out of the way when usually sharp minds are understandably wandering to holiday plans, just as often the impetus is to get things that can be signed off, done and dusted.

The flurry of activity coming from Decc as Parliament broke up gave the impression of both. Restricting support for renewables, giving up on the Green Deal, consenting new gas fired power stations and a hint towards the Levy Control Framework (LCF) beyond 2020 while making a speech seeking to frame climate change in impact on household affordability, was a busy week’s work by anybody’s standards.

Confirming decisions that were in all likelihood made beforehand on the day after MPs were heading back to their constituencies  – and conveniently just after Amber Rudd appeared before the select committee for the first time – certainly irritated those whose role it is to scrutinise government policy.

Yet the scrutiny will happen in the autumn, and with another Energy Bill having been introduced in Parliament, there will be plenty of opportunity to do so. As is so often the case, incredulity about process risks masking questions of substance and the bigger picture.

“Few will mourn the Green Deal, but the absence of a comprehensive energy efficiency programme in its stead would seem to be an expensive error.”

For almost the whole of the last Parliament, it felt as though much was on hold. Legislating for the complex package of Electricity Market Reform took the first half of the term. Once the Bill became law, and after the respected and balanced Energy Minister Charles Hendry was reshuffled, then DECC often gave the impression of struggling to deal with competing objectives both within the department and across government more widely.

A single party majority, a fixed term Parliament and Ministers who have close links with both the Treasury as a department and the Chancellor as the government’s driving force means, in some ways, Amber Rudd’s job is more straightforward. Having made a series of mostly unsurprising (if not necessarily welcome) announcements, she and her advisers now have a crucial opportunity of an August at the start of a period of at least, and quite possibly more than, five years in office to think through both their long-term objectives and how they expect to meet them.

For the most part, there is not any need for new legislation beyond that already in place – but there is a pressing desire for clarity of purpose and predictability of policy. That would not preclude, for example, the reduction of financial support as costs reduce – but doing so on a clearly understood, fair and objective consideration would do less damage to the investment climate.

Few will mourn the Green Deal, but the absence of a comprehensive energy efficiency programme in its stead would seem to be an expensive error. Rapid progress in storage and demand management applications mean it might be an appropriate time to revisit some of the department’s underlying assumptions.  Do the mounting concerns about Hinkley justify a change of tack on the financing model in the continued absence of an agreement. Clearly embracing carbon capture and storage as part of the coming international climate discussions could increase the prospects of a successful conclusion.

There are big and important decisions to take, and a chance to do so through setting out a clear framework for the decade ahead. It is not an opportunity afforded to many incoming Secretaries of State, and certainly not in such a politically benign environment as this summer presents – Amber Rudd should make the most of her chance.