On Tuesday, 18 October 2011, the Energy Bill received Royal Assent and became the Energy Act 2011. The Energy Bill was first introduced into the House of Lords in December 2010 and completed its Commons stages on 14 September 2011. The Lords were content with Commons amendments, which allowed the Bill to receive Royal Assent on 18 October 2011.
The Energy Act provides for some of the key elements of the Coalition’s Programme for Government and its first Annual Energy Statement. It is a first step in our legislative programme, and further legislation has been sought to implement, for example, the findings of the Electricity Market Reform Programme.
The Act provides for a step change in the provision of energy efficiency measures to homes and businesses, and makes improvements to our framework to enable and secure low-carbon energy supplies and fair competition in the energy markets.
The Act includes provisions on:
Green Deal
- The Act creates a new financing framework to enable the provision of fixed improvements to the energy efficiency of households and non-domestic properties, funded by a charge on energy bills that avoids the need for consumers to pay upfront costs.
Private rented sector
- The Act includes provisions to ensure that from April 2016, private residential landlords will be unable to refuse a tenant's reasonable request for consent to energy efficiency improvements where a finance package, such as the Green Deal and/or the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), is available.
- Provisions in the Act also provide for powers to ensure that from April 2018, it will be unlawful to rent out a residential or business premise that does not reach a minimum energy efficiency standard (the intention is for this to be set at EPC rating 'E').
Energy Company Obligation
The Act amends existing powers in the Gas Act 1986, Electricity Act 1989 and the Utilities Act 2000 to enable the Secretary of State to create a new Energy Company Obligation that will:
- take over from existing obligations to reduce carbon emissions (the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP)), which expire at the end of 2012
- work alongside the Green Deal finance offer by targeting appropriate measures at those households likely to need additional support – in particular those containing vulnerable people on low incomes and in hard-to-treat housing
The Act also includes measures to:
- improve energy efficiency and energy security
- enable low-carbon technologies
- extend the role of the Coal Authority
- repeal the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 (HECA) in Scotland and Wales.
For further information please contact the Energy Bill team at energybillqueries@decc.gsi.gov.uk
Energy Act and associated documentation and records
Copies of the Energy Act and the associated explanatory notes can be found on the UK Parliament website.
The Hansard records associated with the Bill's progress are listed below:
The Energy Act page on the UK Parliament website provides copies of the relevant documentation.
Green Deal: Commons Committee Stage documents
The following documents were discussed in the House of Commons Committee stage:
Policy briefs
This aide memoire provides a brief overview of what is included in the Act:
The following 1-2-page briefs provide more detail on each of the policy areas included in the Act:
Energy efficiency
Security of energy supplies
Low carbon generation
Coal Authority
Impact assessments
Impact Assessments provide the costs and benefits associated with each of the policy areas included in the Act.
Please note there is no separate Impact Assessment in relation to implementation of the enduring offshore electricity transmission regime beyond 2010 because the costs and benefits of using these powers have already been assessed in the published DECC Impact Assessment that accompanied the consultation.
The policy areas of private rented sector, Energy Company Obligation, and energy bills all form part of the overall Green Deal Impact Assessment.
Existing legislation in this area