To ask Her Majesty's Government what effects, financial and otherwise, the version of the energy package for further liberalising the European Union's gas and electricity markets agreed by the European Parliament on 22 April will have on the United Kingdom's energy industries and consumers. [HL3176]

We welcome the European Parliament's agreement of the third internal energy market package. We expect the new measures to enter into force some time this summer.

The legislation introduces measures to develop a fully functioning, properly regulated and more integrated European energy market. The result should be to promote security of supply, put downward pressure on consumer prices across the EU and support those in fuel poverty. It should also put in place the regulatory frameworks to underpin the investment in new infrastructure needed to support the low carbon technologies which will be critically important in addressing climate change in the coming years.