First Delegated Legislation Committee

6 juillet 2026

The Chair opens the delegated legislation committee and the Minister moves the motion, outlining the purpose of the draft 2026 Regulations and explaining the role, design and objectives of the capacity market in securing GB electricity supply. He describes the auction framework, technology-neutral nature of the scheme, investment delivered to date and the need for periodic legislative amendments to keep it effective.

First Delegated Legislation Committee

15:28 - 15:40

Intervenant 1

Order. Draft Electricity Capacity (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026. I call the Minister to move the motion.

15:40 - 17:34

Intervenant 2

Thank you very much, Ms Harris, it's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, and I beg to move that the Committee considers the draft Electricity Capacity (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026, which was laid before the House on the 14th of May 2026. This instrument seeks to make technical improvements and changes to the capacity market, which is the government's main tool for ensuring security of electricity supply in Great Britain. Before outlining the specific provisions in the instrument, if I just provide some brief context.

The capacity market was introduced in 2014 and is designed to maintain the security of electricity supply by ensuring that sufficient capacity is available to meet future demand predictions. Through auctions which are held annually, one year and four years ahead of delivery, the capacity needed to meet future peak demand under a range of scenarios is secured based on advice from the National Energy System Operator, NESO. Participants secure agreements through these auctions, requiring them to make capacity available at times of system stress. It's a technology-neutral scheme that pays providers for making capacity available when it's needed, covering generation, storage, consumer-led flexibility, and interconnection. Since its introduction, the capacity market has contributed to investment in around 20 gigawatts of new capacity needed to replace older and less efficient plants as we transition towards the Clean Power 2030 target.

To ensure the capacity market continues to function effectively, we regularly amend the implementing legislation based on what is required to best ensure continued security of supply. If I turn to the detail of this particular instrument, this amends 11 regulations and introduces one new regulation in the Electricity Capacity Regulations 2014, amends two regulations in the Electricity Capacity (Supplier Payment) Regulations 2014, and revokes one chapter of the Electricity Capacity (No. 1) Regulations 2019.

La suite de la transcription est réservée aux clients Pro

Débloquez la transcription complète, le chat et toutes les fonctionnalités d'analyse avec Polyfact Pro.

Posez une question sur cette vidéo — j'analyse sa transcription pour vous répondre.