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The energy market needs “second tier” energy suppliers to challenge the big six suppliers, according to energy minister Michael Fallon.
Speaking last night at an Energy UK reception at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Fallon said that independent and new suppliers need to keep the major supplier “honest”.
He said: “When Labour started in 1997 there were 14 companies; they ended up with the big 6. I’m not happy about that.
“Of course you need the big companies with the big balance sheets to do you investment, but you also need, as you have in food underneath Tesco and Sainsbury’s and so on, your second tier.
“You need people to keep them honest. Your need your Lidl’s, your Waitrose’s, you Marks and Spencer’s and so on. You need that in energy.
“I want to see the independent generators keeping the big 6 honest.”
Fallon also voiced his opposition to a European 2030 renewables target, saying it would be “wrong”.
He added: “We need now to argue with our European targets for a greenhouse has target rather than commit member states again to a renewables target that would skew investment and impose a burden on our consumers and industry.”
Speaking to Utility Week after his speech, the energy minister also said that there is now a “window of opportunity” for new nuclear generation.
He added that “for the first time in a generation” all the three major parties support nuclear power and that “we need to make the most of it”.
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