Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry into the Green Investment Bank

Centrica Plc

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Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry into the Green Investment Bank Centrica response – 25 October 2010 1. Centrica welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Environmental Audit Committee’s Inquiry into the Green Investment Bank. 2. Centrica plc is the parent company of British Gas, the UK’s largest energy supplier, with around 16 million customer contacts in the domestic sector and around one million in the non-domestic sector. British Gas already enjoys the position as the energy supplier with amongst the lowest carbon intensity of the electricity that it produces and supplies to its customers. 3. We also own upstream gas production and power generation assets through Centrica Energy to support our supply businesses: i. We own 8 gas-fired power stations including Britain’s newest power station in Langage, near Devon. ii. We are a leading developer of offshore wind and were recently awarded exclusive rights to develop the Irish Sea zone which provides us with the potential to develop up to an additional 4.2 gigawatts of renewable electricity. iii. Centrica also plans to play a role in the UK’s new nuclear renaissance. We own 20% of British Energy, through our Joint Venture with EDF Energy and are undertaking the pre-development activities for a planned nuclear new build programme. 4. The threat of climate change demands action now and the UK has rightly set itself the task of meeting this challenge. We have demanding ...

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• Publié par: Sakeb
• Nombre de lectures: 10
• Langue: English

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Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry into the

Green Investment Bank

Centrica response – 25 October 2010

1. Centrica welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Environmental Audit Committee’s

Inquiry into the Green Investment Bank.

2. Centrica plc is the parent company of British Gas, the UK’s largest energy supplier, with

around 16 million customer contacts in the domestic sector and around one million in the

non-domestic sector.

British Gas already enjoys the position as the energy supplier with

amongst the lowest carbon intensity of the electricity that it produces and supplies to its

customers.

3. We also own upstream gas production and power generation assets through Centrica

Energy to support our supply businesses:

i. We own 8 gas-fired power stations including Britain’s newest power station in

Langage, near Devon.

ii. We are a leading developer of offshore wind and were recently awarded exclusive

rights to develop the Irish Sea zone which provides us with the potential to develop

up to an additional 4.2 gigawatts of renewable electricity.

iii. Centrica also plans to play a role in the UK’s new nuclear renaissance. We own 20%

of British Energy, through our Joint Venture with EDF Energy and are undertaking the

pre-development activities for a planned nuclear new build programme.

4. The threat of climate change demands action now and the UK has rightly set itself the

task of meeting this challenge. We have demanding greenhouse gas reduction targets of

34% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. Separately, the UK needs to deliver 15% of all energy

from renewable sources by 2020.

With concerted effort and commitment from

government and industry, these targets can be achieved.

We strongly support the Green

Investment Bank, believing that if it is correctly designed and implemented, it could play a

substantial role in enabling the UK meet its energy and environment challenges.

5. The low carbon investment challenges are significant and long-term. In order to have a

meaningful impact, the GIB institution must be able to make long-term decisions that sit

outside the political and economic cycle. It must be constituted with a sense of durability

and independence so that investors are confident that it, and its investment decisions, are

for the long-term. Only in this way can it live up to the vision of a Green Investment Bank

as opposed to another Government grant scheme or fund.

6. The GIB should supplement and not replace important reforms such as to planning or the

electricity market that are essential for investment in new low carbon infrastructure.

Two

areas where we believe the GIB could help accelerate the speed and scale of finance are

offshore wind and energy efficiency.

Pre-construction Equity for Offshore Wind

7. Investment in offshore wind has increased dramatically but is still not taking place at the

scale or speed needed in order for the Government to meet its targets. This is being

addressed through a range of important reforms including planning, RO support etc.

Getting the framework right for investment must be the Government’s priority.

8. With the right framework the investment will come forward. However, in the longer term

there may be an inherent shortfall of available capital in the UK acting as a barrier to

deployment of investment at the speed and scale required.

This is because only a few

companies have the skills and capacity to undertake these investments (utilities) and

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these have limited balance sheet headroom combined with competing calls on resources.

These balance sheet constraints will require utilities to find other sources of finance that

do not utilise balance sheet capacity.

This is a feasible and tested route.

However, there

is a risk that new equity partners may not come forward at the speed and

providing the

scale necessary to meet the renewable energy deployment rates the Government

envisages.

9. The GIB could play a role in overcoming this by providing project equity at key points e.g.

pre-construction offshore wind.

The GIB would simply be expanding the pool of available

capital, not providing a subsidy.

It would co-invest on

pari passu (equal)

terms with the

private sector project promoter(s).

On completion of the project, capital can then be

released and then recycled for further projects.

A modified version is for the GIB to co-

invest with first loss equity, requiring it to make a smaller contribution to the project

finance.

10. In addition to plugging a funding gap, GIB co-investment would also provide reassurance

to utilities and the broader investment community that the Government was committed to

providing the support mechanisms necessary to make the investments required.

In doing

so, it would enhance investor confidence

and increase the amount of funding coming

forward from the market.

Initial Debt Provision to kick-start the Green Deal

11. For the Green Deal to be successfully implemented on a large scale it must be readily

financeable.

Energy suppliers’ balance sheets will not be able to absorb the full costs

given the scale could be as much as £80bn.

Banks would be the natural lenders but so

far they have indicated they are unwilling to provide the finance, initially at least.

This is

because Green Deal finance is new asset class (loans tied to a meter point not a person)

at relatively small levels (~£6k) over a long payback time (up to 25 years).

In addition, a

low interest rate (approximately the risk-free rate +1%) is required to achieve the Green

Deal ‘golden rule’

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. Banks therefore see it as too high-risk for significant investment until it

is more proven and understood, thereby limiting the availability of debt to finance the

Green Deal.

12. The lowest cost of financing would be to access the capital markets. However, to build up

a portfolio of Green Deal Obligations prior to securitisation, an interim ‘warehouse’ facility

would be needed to aggregate and structure the Obligations. In its early days, there is a

risk that Green Deal uptake will not be successful and the Government will withdraw

support of the policy which would leave the warehousing banks with a portfolio of assets

they cannot sell. As a result, commercial banks have shown reluctance to act initially as

‘warehouse’ sponsors. The GIB is ideally placed to act as a strong and credible sponsor

for a Green Deal Special Purpose Vehicle, warehousing Green Deal obligations prior to

securitisation.

13. In addition, the GIB could act as a short-term liquidity provider for the period it takes to

package up enough GD loans to securitise into a bond.

This could be alongside any

private banks willing to lend to the Green Deal or as an upfront finance provider until they

are more confident in the policy.

The GIB should not be seen as a long-term provider of

finance for the initiative and, once the Green Deal is established as an investable asset

class, it is envisaged that public markets will take over the role of the GIB.

14. To achieve AAA-rating for the securitised note, the SPV could create a reserve account to

cover default payments funded by the first year or two of Green Deal payments.

15. The GIB is not essential to developing the Green Deal but it can be key to speeding up

delivery.

One option is to hope that a range of banks will come forward and offer

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Where the new energy bill including energy savings and loan repayments is less than the bill before the energy

efficiency measures were installed

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commercial loans, despite early indications of their caution.

They are likely to be much

more willing to participate if this was alongside or through the Green investment Bank.

Another option is to rely on installers to turn to their own balance sheets, but in capital

constrained times this could discourage Green Deal participation.

Both these options

therefore risk slowing down the uptake of the Green Deal

16. The proposed possible structure is outlined below.

Installers reclaim

funding for

energy measures

Capital Markets

Capital Markets

Householders

Householders

Index-linked 25yr

Green Deal customer

surcharge net of

default losses and

small service charge

Regular index-linked

payments for 25 years

Energy bill

payments

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3

2

Accredited

Installers

GIB

Energy Suppliers

Energy Suppliers

Installation service

Green Deal SPV

Green Deal SPV

Liquidity line

and ‘sponsor’ role

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Commercial

banks

17. In terms of capitalising the GIB, we believe this is an issue and decision best left to

Government.

Instead our focus has been to look at areas where the GIB can add most

value and what characteristics it would require to do so.

However, we would point out

that the energy customer already funds significant policy and investment through various

levies and obligations (e.g. the RO, CERT, the CCS Incentive, CESP etc.).

Because

these levies and obligations are raised through the energy bill, they are regressive.

Therefore we believe a taxpayer route would be the fairest.