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E.ON, the operator of the Steven’s Croft station, reports that last year it exported approximately 21 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of heat from Steven’s Croft to neighbouring customers. The remaining heat is used within the steam turbine to generate electricity.

The Scottish Government has not had any discussions with Ofgem regarding its investigation into claims of wholesale energy price fixing.

The Scottish Government has repeatedly called on Ofgem and the UK Government to take firmer action to deliver an energy market that is transparent, fair, competitive and effective to ensure that consumers are protected. The allegations of price fixing in the wholesale gas market which emerged on 13 November 2012 were of great concern to the Scottish Government and it called for swift and effective action to fully assess the allegations. As such, the Scottish Government urges Ofgem and the Financial Services Authority to press ahead with their investigations into these allegations; including publishing outcomes and taking any required action, as soon as possible, to ensure that any wrongdoing, where founded, is punished and that the consumers are protected.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with stakeholders across the energy sector, including energy suppliers, Ofgem and the UK Government, to ensure that Scottish consumers get the best deal on their energy bills.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-12497 on 6 February 2013. Scottish Government officials liaised with the UK Government officials regularly in the build-up to the summit. The Scottish Government issued the news release following a debate on fuel poverty in the Scottish Parliament. It reflected the content of the debate and set out the key points of action the Scottish Government believes need to be taken to further tackle fuel poverty.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government had a number of meetings and communications with Scotland Office officials, dating from August 2012, to organise a joint energy summit and to ensure that the event achieved positive outcomes for Scottish households suffering from high energy prices. Difficulty in securing earlier UK Ministerial attendance resulted in the summit date of 24 January 2013.

In the interim, the Deputy First Minister asked to meet with each of the major energy companies, regarding assistance for vulnerable consumers.

A meeting was held between Scottish Government and Scotland Office officials on 15 January 2013 to discuss the agenda for the summit. Scottish Government officials made the Scotland Office aware of the Deputy First Minister’s meetings with the major energy companies (confirmed in an email of 18 January 2013), who would be attending and also raised matters of concern to stakeholders regarding the Energy Companies Obligation. Scottish Government officials also requested a nominated Department for Energy and Climate Change official to discuss what matters they were planning to raise at the summit. A teleconference between Scottish Government officials and a Department for Energy and Climate Change official on 21 January 2013 covered the respective issues for the summit.

On 22 January 2013 Scottish Government officials emailed Scotland Office officials to confirm that the Minister for Housing and Welfare would address support for vulnerable customers in Scotland and the asks of energy suppliers and UK Government in her agenda item. Scotland Office officials confirmed by email that they were content with these points.

Briefing notes for the fuel poverty debate covered all issues pertinent to the opening and closing speeches, items likely to be raised in the debate, the motion and proposed amendments.

It is not possible to estimate how many calls were made to the telephone number initially uploaded in the online news release as this is not a number maintained by the Energy Saving Trust. There was no significant difference in the overall number of calls received to the Home Energy Scotland hotline on 23, 24 and 25 January 2013. A technical problem was the reason why an incorrect telephone number was uploaded onto the Scottish Government website, despite the original version of the document being correct, and this has since been corrected.

A key responsibility of officials and special advisers is to advise and brief Ministers on an ongoing basis, in particular for debates and events. The Minister for Housing and Welfare required and received briefing for the fuel poverty debate on 23 January 2013 and the joint summit on energy prices the following day.

The opening and closing speeches for the fuel poverty debate referred to the Government motion and issues raised by members in the debate. The Minister for Housing and Welfare updated members on the Deputy First Minister’s meetings with the major energy companies and how we wished to see Scotland receive its fair share of Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding. The six-point list of demands for the Summit included these concerns, and also concerns raised in the debate such as improved regulation of energy companies and ensuring ECO is delivered throughout Scotland and supported by robust and relevant reporting.

It is normal practice to issue a news release to accompany significant events such as key government debates and summits.

The Scottish Government’s ask is “That the UK Government ensures the Scottish Government receives robust and relevant information on how its new ECO schemes is being delivered in Scotland” and did not refer to more general information about the operation of the Energy Company Obligation. The relevant UK legislation states “The Administrator (OFGEM) must submit to the Secretary of State a report each month setting out the progress which suppliers have made towards meeting their obligations under this Order”.

Concerns about the reporting of what was being delivered in Scotland under the previous Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, have been raised at the Economy, Energy and Tourism committee in the recent past. Scottish Government officials have been working for a number of years with Department for Energy and Climate Change, energy suppliers, Energy Saving Trust and OFGEM and what is now Energy UK to improve the data on CERT. Data for the first year of four years of CERT (up to March 2012) for professionally installed loft and cavity wall insulation was published as official statistics by the Energy Saving Trust in August 2012. The Committee expressed a desire that Energy Company Obligation (ECO) reporting would provide robust and relevant information demonstrating that Scotland is benefitting from an obligation paid for by all consumers.

We will continue to press UK Government and OFGEM to ensure that ECO reporting contains detailed and timely information on its delivery in Scotland.