Below is a brief summary of the recent Energy Bill debate in the House of Lords on 22nd October 2008 relating to CHP.

There have been a number of amendments that have sought to establish a mechanism to enable the householder and the small businesses to play there part in combating climate change. The most recent of these has been an amendment table by Baroness Wilcox, Lord Puttnam, Lord Teverson and Lord Whitty. This amendment sought to provide householders and/or businesses with a "bonus payment" or Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) if those parties are generating their own electricity form microgeneration and exporting electricity to the grid.

During the debate:

Baroness Wilcox, sponsor of the aforementioned "FiT" amendment has agreed to withdraw her amendment as long as the Government's "FiT" amendment fulfils the following criteria:

• The Government's amendment must recognise the benefits of non renewable small scale generation, notably the Government's amendment must include conventional gas-fired microCHP.
• The Government's amendment must allow the flexibility to adjust the cap and value of a "FiT" to recognise different forms of small scale generation.
• Heat should be included with the scope of the amendment.
• The Lord's requested sight of the Government's amendment as soon as possible.
• Lords should reserve the right to introduce an amendment If the Government's amendment does not fulfil the aforementioned criteria.

Further to this statement the Lord's reinforced Baroness Wilcox's support for CHP and Community Energy. Lord Oxburgh stated that there appeared to have been serious neglect of the role of heat within the economy and CHP needs to be made a priority. Baroness Gardner of Parkes reinforced the role small scale CHP can play to power hospitals and other local authority buildings. Lord Teverson said that community wide heating should be encouraged.

Finally, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath OBE - Minister of State (with responsibility for heat supply - including locally distributed energy), provided the Government's response to these comments. He outlined the following:

• The Government supports the principles outlined in Baroness Wilcox's amendment.
• The Government supports a "FiT" for small scale low carbon electricity production.
• The Government's commitment to the renewable energy and 80% carbon reduction targets must set the context for the debate and any Government amendments.
• An upper limit for a "FiT" will be included within the scope of a "FiT" for small scale low carbon electricity production, this will be debated in the next Lord's debate, scheduled for the 28 October.
• He agreed with the need for flexibility to adjust the cap and value of a "FiT" to recognise different forms of small scale generation.
• Importantly he agreed that Government's "FiT" amendment will recognise the benefits of non renewable small scale generation, Because of the differences between the electricity and heat markets, heat and electricity can not be combined in a single amendment.
• The Government will bring forward a specific amendment to address heat within the third reading. This amendment will have have the flexibility to be adapted after the Bill has become an Act (subject to an SI which would be introduced by the Secretary of State).

Following these points Baroness Wilcox withdrew her amendment