To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the provision of connections to street-lighting in inner London by EDF; what estimate she has made of the time taken by EDF to reconnect street lights in inner London in the latest period for which figures are available; and if she will hold discussions with (a) EDF and (b) other companies providing connections to street lighting on steps to be taken to expedite connection times. (185603)

I have been asked to reply.

In October 2007, Ofgem introduced a set of key performance indicators with regard to connections and faults repairs for street lighting services. DNOs are required to report on their performance in respect of each local authority against a number of criteria and meet those criteria in 90 per cent. of instances overall. Performance against criteria will be published by Ofgem annually.

Ofgem has received one quarterly return under the new requirements (for the three months ending 31 December 2007). The figures for EDF Energy (London Power Networks) show:

Ofgem will discuss both aggregate figures shown above for the first quarter and performance within each local Public Lighting Authority (PLA) area with EDFE. Ofgem also considers feedback received from PLAs at various forums and will take up specific issues with DNO management when necessary.