Fifth Delegated Legislation Committee
9 June 2026
Speaker dots
- Speakers in the chapter
- Colour: political group
- Grey: no group
Tap or click a chapter's dots to see names and groups.
Contents updated on 15 Jun 2026
Legend
Transcript markers
- text Sentence being played
- text Search result
- text Intervention cited by the link you opened
Click a sentence to play the video from that moment. Select text to quote it with the speaker, timestamp and link.
More options
Fifth Delegated Legislation Committee House of Commons
00:08 - 00:19
Speaker 1
Order. The draft Contracts for Difference (Allocation) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. Minister, would you like to move the motion?
00:19 - 03:02
Speaker 2
Thank you very much, Mr. Stringer, and I beg to move that the draft Contracts for Difference (Allocation) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, which were laid before the House on the 20th of April, be approved. The statutory instrument before us today makes several very minor and very technical amendments to improve the operational efficiency of the Contracts for Difference, or the CFD scheme, during the assessment of applications. And subject to the will of Parliament, the government intends to introduce these targeted and practical measures in time for allocation round eight, which opens on the 20th of July. For committee members' interest, the CFD scheme, as many will know, is the government's flagship policy for supporting new low-carbon electricity generation across Great Britain. CFDs are awarded through annual competitive auctions with the lowest-priced bids being successful.
In March, my right honourable friend the Energy Secretary outlined a package of measures to go further and faster on clean power in response to events in the Middle East, and that included bringing forward the opening of AR8 to July to provide certainty for clean energy investors. The most recent allocation round, AR7, secured 14.7 gigawatts of clean, homegrown generating capacity across 201 new projects. AR7 built on the success of AR6, which was out in September 2024, which secured over 7 gigawatts of renewable capacity across Great Britain. AR7 was the most successful renewables auction in European history, and the reforms that we introduced for AR7 boosted competition and investor confidence and secured renewable capacity at strike prices 40% lower than the cost of building and operating new gas. These achievements show that the CFD scheme, which is our key part to deliver on our mission for clean power by 2030, also helps us strengthen Britain's energy security.
Now, the regulations that govern this scheme are kept under review to make sure that it remains fit for purpose. The regulations today will make the following three targeted amendments to improve the future operation of the scheme. Firstly, they enable the National Energy System Operator, NESO, to correct certain types of errors it makes during the assessment of applications by issuing new or amended qualification decisions where evidence supports this. NESO, in its role as the CFD delivery body, assesses applications against the eligibility criteria and determines whether applicants qualify to participate in the competitive allocation process. As the CFD scheme has grown in popularity, the volume of applications has increased significantly, with several hundred submitted in the recent allocation rounds.
The rest of the transcript is for Pro customers
Unlock the full transcript, chat, and every analysis feature with Polyfact Pro.
The video itself stays free to watch, in full, no account needed.
Ask anything about this video — I analyse its transcript to answer.