To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will assess, with reference to the experience of countries which have such a system, the merits of introducing in the UK a system of national fuel pricing. (153353)

Last year the Government carried out a full review of energy policy, culminating in a White Paper published in May this year. The Government continue to believe that fuel prices are best set through the interplay of supply and demand in an open, competitive and transparent market. Price signals which clearly reflect supply and demand conditions, including any local variations, are the most efficient way of bringing supply and demand together, through (for example) supply increase through investment in new supply capacity and demand reduction through investment in energy efficiency. Nationally regulated prices disguise these signals and may lead to waste, inefficiency and shortage as supplies fail to get to where they are most needed.