Mr Timothy Eggar: The Gas Act 1986 allows gas charges to be recovered by public gas suppliers, whether or not the gas was taken by arrangement. That is not a novel concept. The hon. Gentleman is right, however, to say that the amendment makes an additional provision in relation to the theft of gas. Paragraph 8 of schedule 2 provides that the owner or occupier is to be deemed to have contracted with the...
Mr Timothy Eggar: The scheme that is made under the new paragraph will contain provisions for determining who is responsible to the transporter for the taken gas. One must consider this in the light of the particular circumstances of a case. We are trying to cover every eventuality and ensure that there is a case to be answered for someone who nicks gas, in the colloquial term.
Mr Timothy Eggar: I shall deal first with the first point raised by the hon. Member for Leeds, West (Mr. Battle). My understanding is that the director general's non-executive directorship is entirely consistent with her letter of appointment. No conflict of interests is envisaged. I understand that the hon. Member for Leeds, West did not cover energy matters at the time, but it was fully explained and...
Mr Timothy Eggar: I hope that I have made the position on forced entry clear. I have reservations about a period of notice because we are talking about investigations into people who are stealing gas. Almost by definition, if we give 48 hours' notice of such an investigation, we may find that a reconnected supply has been disconnected again. Much work is being done on what is known as "intelligent metering"...
Mr Timothy Eggar: I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
Mr Timothy Eggar: The hon. Gentleman asks a fascinating question, and the answer goes to prove that there is no new form of human trickery known to man. The common law used to provide for an offence of false personation, but apparently the House abolished that offence in England and Wales with the Theft Act 19.68, thereby creating a hole that the common law had filled probably for several hundred years. We are...
Mr Timothy Eggar: I shall deal first with the point made by the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Mr. Rowlands) . When we were originally consulting on the Bill's structure, we had to decide whether the Gas Consumers Council would be amalgamated with Ofgas. That had been the formula we had followed for Offer. We decided against that. It was a fundamental policy decision. The amendments were...
Mr Timothy Eggar: Not in the precise terms in which the hon. Gentleman puts it. He is talking about very wide-ranging powers. We are talking about keeping the existing division between Ofgas and the Gas Consumers Council but allowing some of what I would call practical flexibility. In other words, where there are matters which clearly fall to the Gas Consumers Council to be investigated, which it has a desire...
Mr Timothy Eggar: Garbage stays garbage, however often it is repeated. The hon. Gentleman seems incapable of understanding that, from the consumer's point of view, the advent of competition will be the ultimate spur for British Gas. If consumers are dissatisfied with the standard of service provided by British Gas, they will be able to go elsewhere. Nothing will concentrate the mind of British Gas or any other...
Mr Timothy Eggar: It is inconceivable that any report would not specifically cover the pilot area performance. I will draw the director general's attention to the argument that the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Mr. Rowlands) makes about regional pricing. It is interesting that, at present, British Gas is free to differentiate on a regional basis and it has chosen not to do so; who knows what it...
Mr Timothy Eggar: I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment. If it would help, Madam Speaker, I shall comment on this group of amendments, which was made in response to a point made by my right hon. and noble Friend Lord Boyd-Carpenter in Committee in a debate on an amendment that had been moved by Baroness David. My noble Friend suggested that we needed to look again at...
Mr Timothy Eggar: I shall pick up the rather wide point that the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Mr. Rowlands) has raised. There will be a transportation charge differential. That flows not from the Bill but from decisions made by the Director General of Gas Supply before the Bill's introduction. We have never made any secret of that fact. That differential will not be more than plus or minus 2 per...
Mr Timothy Eggar: I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
Mr Timothy Eggar: I deal first with the provenance of the amendment, which is essentially technical. Hon. Members who considered the Bill in Committee will remember that there are in it a number of protections to ensure that a licence is granted not only to financially viable companies but to companies that meet various other criteria set by the director general. The hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney...
Mr Timothy Eggar: It is probable that in most parts of the country the relevant regional electricity supplier will want to be able to supply gas. How successful and competitive it will be is another matter, but the huge advantage from the hon. Gentleman's constituents' point of view is that they will no longer have to buy from just one supplier. Whatever the alternative or alternatives—incidentally, I think...
Mr Timothy Eggar: I am keen to be helpful. Two distinct issues are involved here. First, will customers already connected to a gas supply benefit from competition; and will there be more connections? All the evidence so far is that competition will lead to reduced prices and improved standards of service and choice for consumers. Once people are linked up to the gas system, there will be no difference...
Mr Timothy Eggar: I could not help but smile when the hon. Gentleman said that he holds no brief for British Gas. I remember when he was No. 2 to the now noble Lord Owen on the Labour Front Bench, and he did indeed read out a brief that was provided to him by Sir Denis Rooke, who at that time was the chief executive of British Gas, in order, as he saw it of course, to demolish a point that I was trying to make...
Mr Timothy Eggar: The Health and Safety Commission made it clear in its evidence to the nuclear review that the current regulatory regime is a rigorous system which ensures that a high level of safety is achieved. The same high standard of safety will apply after privatisation.
Mr Timothy Eggar: I read about Mr. Killick's allegations in the newspapers and I asked for a full report because I take safety extremely seriously. I can tell the House and the hon. Gentleman that at no time while Mr. Killick was employed by Scottish Nuclear did he ever mention those anxieties to the company, or to the chief inspector of nuclear installations, or to the relevant nuclear installations...
Mr Timothy Eggar: I noted what Greenpeace said. Post-privatisation, safety concerns will of course be at least as important as, if not more important than, they are at present, and they will be guaranteed by the independent nuclear inspectorate.
