Huhne delays start of CRC Phase II implementation until 2013
19 November 2010
In a speech to the CBI conference earlier this week, Chris Huhne, secretary of state for energy & climate Change said that while the principle of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is sound, its implementation fell short of the ideal and his department has made a commitment to simplify it. He said:
"The decision not to proceed with revenue recycling was a difficult one, taken against a background of unprecedented pressure on the public finances. We had to focus on getting the best value for money – and sending a clearer price signal to participants. Given a blank slate, we would do things a little differently."
DEC has published a UK wide consultation on delaying the start of Phase II of CRC, which will mean that participants won’t now need to register for Phase II until 2013. In this way, the department hopes to engage in a proper dialogue with participants about what it needs to do to improve the scheme.
Mr Huhne (pictured) said that he was also proposing to exempt over 12,000 information declarers from the scheme. "We now have enough feedback from the first stage of the CRC to remove obligations on information declarers without compromising the scheme’s environmental aims," he said.
Rob Tanzer, technical support manager for the Chloride ac power business of Emerson Network Power in the United Kingdom, said that major power users, such as the biggest data centres, have already bought into the need to lower their energy bills for a variety of reasons, including the CRC.
"There are still sound commercial reasons for all organisations to be installing the most energy efficient equipment available, today rather than tomorrow," he said. "For organisations yet to qualify, there’s a significant opportunity at hand. Businesses have breathing space, either to bring emissions below threshold levels or to initiate projects that will cut exposure when the CRC finally hits.
“Nevertheless, the big strategic imperative remains: to save money on ongoing basis by replacing ageing technology and processes with better, more cost efficient ones as electricity prices inevitably increase.”
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