ENA Bulletin 16 November

Issue 282: Wednesday 16 November 2011

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ENA calls on Government to support Metal Theft Prevention Bill

Following the introduction of the Metal Theft (Prevention) Bill by Graham Jones MP yesterday, ENA are calling for the Government to support the Bill and give it the Parliamentary time necessary to get it onto the statute book before the Parliamentary session ends next spring.

The purpose of the Bill is to stop thieves using the scrap metal industry as a means of disposing stolen metal. Stop their means of passing it on and you stop the motive for the theft.

The issue has reached a point of criticality where the public, the media and politicians are calling for change. We believe the Bill offers the perfect vehicle to deliver change quickly. This is something that is being called for by a universal coalition. We are not seeking to place red tape on businesses but to prevent illegal activity. As Graham Jones said in the Commons yesterday “this regulation would allow legitimate, law-abiding and socially responsible scrap metal dealers to flourish. Indeed, some scrap metal dealers already perform many of the requirements of this Bill as best practice”.

The Bill has strong cross-party support and on Monday 14 November ENA held a launch event at the House of Commons that brought together MPs from the two main parties. Chris Kelly Conservative MP for Dudley South announced at the meeting that he will be forming an All-Party Parliamentary Group that ENA will be supporting. Also at the meeting were representatives of the affected industries including the railways, telecoms and broadcasting. Graham said at the meeting that we were seeking to break “an eco-system of crime”.

ENA also featured on the BBC Six O’Clock News on the issue yesterday with our Chairman Steve Johnson speaking about the impact it has on his network region.

As reported last week we have also launched an e-petition to support the Bill.

ENA have been working with Graham Jones on this Bill for some time. It has six key elements:  

  • First; we need to amend the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964. Instead of the current registration scheme, the UK needs a robust licensing regime, with scrap metal dealers paying a licence fee to fund the regulation of the licence.

  • Second; property obtained through theft should be regarded as criminal assets. This would allow the provisions in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to apply.

  • Third; in line with alcohol licensing powers, police authorities should have the power to search and investigate all premises owned and operated by a scrap metal dealer, and to close scrap metal dealers where criminally obtained materials are discovered.

  • Fourth; trade in scrap metals should be restricted to cashless payments, and there should be a requirement that scrap metal must not be sold or processed until payments have been cleared. Photo identification and CCTV should be mandatory to identify sellers of scrap and their vehicles. This is a policy that has been successfully introduced in other countries.

  • Fifth; magistrates should have powers to add licence restrictions and prevent closed yards from re-opening.

  • Finally; the Theft Act and related Acts should be amended so that suspects caught should be charged and if found guilty, sentenced in such a way that is proportionate to the consequences of the crime, not the scrap metal value.

Two weeks ago ENA set out the case for change at a meeting of a cross-government group of departmental Ministers. The meeting convened by Home Office Crime Minister Lord Henley and attended by among others Charles Hendry and Lord Taylor of Holbeach as well as Ministers from the Treasury and Department for Transport was to look at the case for changing the scrap metal law.

The clock is ticking for the Government to do something. By working with us on the Bill we can deliver change quickly and reduce the possibility that sooner or later an innocent person will be killed.

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ENA raise future of gas with Scottish Energy Minister

Last week ENA led a delegation to meet with Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing to discuss the future role for gas. We last met Fergus to discuss metal theft at the end of October.

In a meeting that lasted over an hour at the Scottish Parliament, ENA briefed the Minister on our Redpoint work on the future of gas, which was launched last year. We also set out some of our future work and discussed the vital role gas must continue to play. It is clear that the Minister understands the crucial role that gas plays in all our lives and that the roel of gas will continue long into the future. 

This meeting followed the publication of a Report from the Energy Select Committee two weeks ago that reflected our key messages on the future of gas. We also raised the issue of fuel poverty and the part gas supply can play in minimising it. This was something that came out in the recent interim report of the Hills Review into Fuel Poverty and we were able to brief the Minister on it.

There is no doubt that Scotland sees a major role for gas in its future. Currently it supplies 75% of Scottish Households with heating and cooking. The Scottish Government would like to see that figure increase as a key way to deal with fuel poverty.

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ENA address PV connections issue following FiTs decision

As reported in the Bulletin two weeks ago the sun hasn’t been shining on DECC Minister Greg Barker recently. His announcement on the 31 October about reducing the solar PV Feed-in Tariff from April 2012 was expected but the deadline of 12 December for connections, in order to qualify for the higher rate, was not.

Since the change was announced, there has been a flood of people trying to get their solar panels installed before the deadline, ensuring they get the higher rate of 43.3p per kilowatt hour of power. As a result of this announcement we understand some (if not all) of the DNOs are now inundated by desperate householders, housing associations and businesses wanting connection before then.

ENA are flagging this with government and are looking at some possible solutions. We will report further on this in the next Bulletin.

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Brussels update

Renewables-Grid-Initiative

Last week the Renewables-Grid-Initiative (RGI) formally handed over to Energy Commissioner Oettinger a “European Grid Declaration on Electricity Network Development and Nature Conservation in Europe” at a European grid conference held at the European Parliament.

New Coalition

RGI is a new coalition of transmission system operators, which includes the UK’s National Grid, along with Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), which includes Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and WWF.

Joint Declaration

The Joint Declaration aims to strengthen the coalition of stakeholders supporting grid expansion specifically to integrate renewables to meet EU 2020 targets, and raise public awareness of this need. It also lays the ground for cooperation on specific pilot projects to develop best practice and improve the implementation of grid development in line with nature conservation objectives. The coalition also pledges to encourage transparency and address public acceptance.

Within RGI, the Transmission System Operator (TSOs) have also committed to helping meet Europe’s objectives to protect nature, for example by ensuring that risks to birds from power lines are minimised. At the same time, the NGOs have confirmed their support for the grid development needed to integrate renewable energy produced by both larger centralised but also smaller localised generation plant.

The Commissioner gave a very positive response to this new grid initiative. He said “We need to strengthen the European electricity grid to achieve Europe's ambitious energy and climate policy objectives. This needs to be done in agreement with society, while respecting nature conservation standards. Co-operation between stakeholders and project developers from the very start of the project is necessary to get the projects built quickly, and this initiative is one of the ways to ensure that. We at the Commission therefore welcome the Renewables-Grid-Initiative as an excellent platform for TSOs and NGOs to work together to find and implement joint solutions”.

National Grid Views

Steve Holliday, Chief Executive, National Grid, explained that “Investment in power grids is an essential part of connecting people to new renewable energy sources. The declaration is an important statement that we will ensure a focus on nature conservation goes hand in hand with this vital investment. We look forward to continuing to work with our partners in the Renewables-Grid-Initiative on the wider issues surrounding how we can reduce the impacts of grid expansion”.

EU Infrastructure Regulation – Next Steps

The RGI initiative shares a lot of the aims and objectives of the Commission’s new Regulation on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure. The infrastructure Regulation, part of the Connecting Europe Facility, has the objective of making it easier to build and finance a range of energy infrastructure projects, including cross border interconnectors and smart grid developments, to help meet the EU’s 2020 renewables and emissions reductions targets. €9.1 bn of EU budget monies has been promised to part fund some of the less commercially attractive but strategically essential priority projects, and at the same time leverage much larger amounts of financing from the private sector. 

ENA has warmly welcomed the new infrastructure Regulation, particularly since both transmission and distribution companies have been identified as potential project promoters.

While we wait to hear who is appointed Parliament’s Rapporteur to lead on the negotiations on this dossier, there has already been a mini debate between MEPs and the energy Commissioner at the Parliament on the proposals.

Some interesting points were made by the Commissioner:

Regarding the 3-year maximum time limit, the Commission is proposing for permitting approval for priority EU transmission projects (as opposed to the 10-year + timescales currently commonly experienced in certain Member States), the Commissioner accepted that existing authorisation procedures varied widely between Member States, along with land-use laws etc. It will be up to Member States to decide how they can best achieve the proposed 3-year time frame for example by increasing staff numbers, speeding up court procedures etc. The Commission is not seeking to impose a single solution. 

As far as EU funding for priority EU projects is concerned, the Commissioner confirmed that the majority of gas and electricity projects would not require any EU funding. However, other energy projects (presumably those involving new technologies or which otherwise may present an increased commercial risk for investors) will need to be publicly funded to the tune of between 10–80%.

The Commissioner’s view was that the focus for energy project investments should be within the Member States, but if other networks beyond the borders made sense, e.g. linking Greece with the western Balkans, then this could be included. Sea cables from Tunisia into the EU are already co-funded by the EU.

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