An Act to make provision about the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases, the alleviation of fuel poverty, the promotion of microgeneration and the use of heat produced from renewable sources, compliance with building regulations relating to emissions of greenhouse gases and the use of fuel and power, the renewables obligation relating to the generation and supply of electricity and the adjustment of transmission charges for electricity; and for connected purposes.
The Rt Hon
Eric Forth MP, a well known opponent of Private Members' Bills who often
fillibustered them in Parliament, died during the passage of this bill through Parliament, after having prolonged the debate during
Third Reading and
Report for a number of days.
Microgeneration in the United Kingdom
Microgeneration technologies are seen as having considerable potential by the Government. Microgeneration involves the local production of electricity by homes and businesses from low-energy sources including small scale
wind turbines,
ground source heat pumps and
solar electricity installations.
The Government's own microgeneration strategy was launched in March 2006[2] was seen as a disappointment by many commentators.[3] In contrast, the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act has been viewed as a positive step.[4]
The Act
The principal measures in the act are to:
require the Secretary of State (
DEFRA) to report annually on
greenhouse gas emissions during the year plus steps taken to cut them;
require
local authorities to take into account the content of a new 'energy measures report' that the Secretary of State will be required to publish within one year from the signing of the Act;
require the Secretary of State to set national microgeneration targets no later than 31 March 2009;
require the Secretary of State to expand the annual reports on progress towards sustainable energy aims (under the
Sustainable Energy Act 2003), to include:
progress in meeting the microgeneration targets;
progress in meeting the target (under the
Housing Act 2004) for the energy efficiency of residential accommodation in
England;
progress in meeting the target (under the Housing Act 2004) for the emissions of carbon dioxide in England;
progress in meeting the target (under the Housing Act 2004) for the number of households in which one or more persons are living in
fuel poverty;
things done to promote community energy projects;
things done to promote the use of heat from renewable sources.
give the Secretary of State the power to impose a duty on energy companies to buy energy from microgeneration schemes, if the industry fails to create a voluntary scheme within one year.
introduce a statutory review that, it is hoped, may change
permitted development orders to allow certain domestic microgeneration without the need for
planning permission. A consultation period on the proposed changes ends on 27 June 2007.[5]
increasing to two years the time limit for prosecuting contraventions of the Building Regulations relating to energy use, energy conservation or carbon emissions;
require the Secretary of State to report on compliance with these aspects of the Building Regulations and steps proposed to increase compliance.
modify the
Energy Act 2004 with the aim of capping charges for the transmission of renewable electricity produced in the
Scottish islands, so reducing production costs and encouraging
wind power and
wave power.
Microgeneration technologies
For the purposes of the Act, microgeneration technologies include:
Companies with headquarters and/or registered office in the UK but no applicable energy operations within the country shown in italics1Ultimate parent company is not UK-based 2Integrated in the United States, no generation or supply activities in the UK