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Policy Overview
The Association has very clear policies, agreed by the Board of Directors. These policies govern the way in which the Association undertakes its work. Read below the Association's policies on both industry wide and technology specific issues.
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Health and Safety
The Association recognises the importance to the industry of maintaining high standards of health and safety in the workplace. It will promote health and safety best practice and solution transfer across the AEP membership. This will include sharing information, benchmarking, identifying issues and maintaining good relations with regulatory bodies, trade unions and other associations in the electricity industry.
The wholesale electricity market and the influence of legislation and regulation
The Association will continue to promote the benefits of competitive markets for the production, trading and supply of electricity in the UK and the rest of Europe and the removal of barriers to entry. It will argue for clarity and stability of policy from the EU, the UK government and regulators and will seek the least possible intervention in the market place. It will continue to favour market-led solutions as the appropriate response to questions about security of supply.
The Association will continue to promote the liberalisation of European markets for electricity and gas.
The Association will use its influence to ensure that the interests of the industry are brought to the attention of governments and regulators. Establishing a secure climate for profitable investment will be important among those interests.
The relationship between electricity producers and the network owners and operators
The Association will continue to pursue policies consistent with securing
- Fair terms for connection to and use of the networks.
- Efficient networks which provide services in a transparent and cost-effective manner.
- Transparent and competitive markets for services which
generating businesses provide to enable network owners and
operators to meet their license obligations and appropriate
benefits for electricity producers when they provide those
services.
The Association recognises the inter-dependence of the producers and the networks, but, in the context that the networks provide a service to producers and customers.
Regulation
The Association will advocate minimal regulation of competitive markets, such that
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regulatory intervention is a last resort;
- it has clearly defined limits to its scope and duration and
- the consultation processes are a transparent and meaningful stage in the development of the market and relevant regulatory policies.
It will seek regulation which
- avoids micro management of wholesale markets by the regulator via changes to trading rules and codes of practice and
- complements competition legislation.
In non-competitive markets, the Association will advocate regulation which is transparent and non-discriminatory and which provides for fair terms for those that contract with the monopoly businesses.
The Association will encourage moves towards more self-regulation, enabling all parts of the industry to participate in the governance process, with Ofgem acting as an informed observer of and commentator on the development of energy markets.
Environment
The Association recognises the role the generating industry
can play in helping to achieve sustainable development.
The Association will maintain its support for the principle that, after proper consultation, governments should set environment policy with limits where appropriate and allow the generating industry to adapt to those limits employing competitive and cost-effective mechanisms.
In respect of carbon emissions limits, the Association will continue to argue that the UK should not allow itself to suffer competitive disadvantage, nor should the UK generating industry be required to meet more than its fair share of emissions reduction.
SECTOR SPECIFIC POLICIES
Nuclear power
The Association recognises the importance that nuclear power plays in the security of electricity supply in Great Britain and its advantages regarding abatement of carbon emissions. It also recognises that the economics of nuclear power demands longer term investment decisions than most other generating technologies. This makes the nuclear power industry particularly sensitive to government policy. The Association will encourage the government to take full account of that.
Without further delay, the government should resolve the major uncertainty relating to its policy concerning radio-active waste. This would help the nuclear power industry determine its own future.
Click here to read the Association’s full policy paper on nuclear power.
Renewable energy
The Association acknowledges the part that renewable energy can play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the contribution that diversity in generating fuels and technologies can make to security of supply. It will assist the government in meeting its targets for renewable energy
The Association continues to believe that the need for competitive wholesale prices applies to renewable energy as well as other forms of electricity production and it will therefore maintain its support for measures, such as the Renewables Obligation, which apply a degree of market pressure to emerging technologies, rather than exempting them entirely from such pressure.
Embedded generation
The Association produced a policy statement in July 1998, which has had a noticeable influence on the thinking of the DTI and Ofgem. The Association will continue to advocate an approach to embedded generation which calls for non-discriminatory treatment, irrespective of voltage or asset ownership, whether the connection is for generation or demand.
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