MEP puts her energy into efficiency

Vicky Ford, Conservative MEP for the East of England met with representatives of the electricity industry from all across Europe last night to discuss the latest developments on the Energy Efficiency Directive. Vicky is working on the Directive on behalf of the European Conservatives and Reformists in the European Parliament. The text includes measures such as obligations for public bodies to renovate their buildings and purchase energy efficient products, requirements for countries to put in place energy efficiency obligation schemes, and the installation of smart meters. The draft Directive received over 1800 amendments from MEPs and Vicky is in the process of negotiating it’s content with colleagues from other political groups. She said: "Every household and business tells me they want to get their energy bills down. It is helpful to share experiences and best practices from other countries to see how this can be achieved. However, the text as proposed by the Commission was a very prescriptive, one-size-fits-all approach, with the European Union effectively dictating how countries and local authorities should manage their energy policy. As you can imagine, 1800 amendments just goes to show how many controversial elements there were in this text. I am putting a huge amount of my own energy into these negotiations because I support energy efficiency policies, but each country's government must have sensible suggestions and flexibility in order to achieve their own energy savings goals".

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