*Charles Hendry, shadow energy minister, blasts government indecision on energy policy and tells Roger Milne the Tories will be very different.*

For nearly four years Charles Hendry MP has been the shadow Conservative energy minister. Next week he will be on the platform at his party conference in Manchester discussing smart transmission grids, why the UK requires more gas storage, and the need for a faster rollout of smart metering than the present administration is currently contemplating.

Of course, in just over six months' time, with a Conservative victory at the polls looking likely, he might just be in the hot seat and no longer shadow boxing. If that prospect is a daunting one, he gives little sign of nerves when we meet in Westminster to discuss what a newly-minted Conservative administration would do.

*Common ground*

I suggest that despite the political point-scoring, there aren't huge differences between Labour and his party on energy issues. It is not an area containing ideological fault-lines.

"The first thing to say is that we have very deliberately tried to take some of the politics out of energy," says Hendry. "We know that we're talking to businesses that are looking to invest over a 40 to 60-year period and they need to know that there is some certainty about the environment in which they're investing. We've gone out of our way to say that if we can find common ground with the government, then we want to do so."

That said, he is quick to claim that on questions such as feed-in tariffs and smart grids the Conservatives have been ahead of the government, and that some of Labour's recent thinking reflects things the Conservatives were saying in their own low carbon policy paper months ago.

Hendry's main criticism of the government is its indecision, as exemplified by its stance on carbon capture and storage.

*Carbon capture and storage*

"When the UK started talking about carbon capture and storage four years ago, we probably led the world in terms of thinking. We're now behind America, Canada, Norway, Abu Dhabi and China. Bear in mind that the government's strategy was to develop a technology that we could then sell to China. China now has its project up and running and is looking to sell it to us."

Hendry warms to his theme. "We face one of the worst energy challenges in Europe. Look at the age of our generation fleet. All of our nuclear apart from Sizewell B is due to come out of commission in the next ten years. And one-third of our coal is due to come out of commission in ten years as a result of the large combustion plant directive." He stresses: "We haven't got time on our side. We should have been much more engaged in trying to secure that new investment."

*Cap-in-hand*

Hendry suggests that this has left ministers in the role of supplicants, forced to go cap-in-hand to the energy companies, often with international boards, and almost plead with them to invest in Britain. "My main charge against the government is that they could see the problem coming but they haven't secured the new investment."

I ask if this implies that an incoming Conservative administration would be more interventionist, insisting on, say, strategic gas storage. Hendry demurs, though he does believe there could be a case for saying to generators: "If you are going to burn gas, you must have a certain number of winter days storage to do so." The party is working on a policy on that, one that might also mean that in the depths of winter you would need permission from the regulator or a minister to export gas out of storage beyond a certain level. "We're thinking in terms of how we make sure there's enough gas there to burn."

*Engagement not intervention*

Hendry says this is engagement rather than intervention. "This government has been very good at setting targets, but not very good at saying how you reach them. Some poor other minister in 20 years' time will have to explain why they haven't been met. That's a bad way of governing."

He argues that in a whole range of areas, "the government has to be more actively engaged in energy policy". He praises what the present administration has done in respect of nuclear power and suggests this should be the model in other fields.

"The office of nuclear development and the new nuclear forum show a government really willing to ask: 'Where are the obstacles and how do we move the obstacles out the way?' The trouble is they haven't done this with carbon capture and storage, they haven't done it in gas storage, they haven't done it in terms of how we get the best value out of the remaining assets in the North Sea. And they haven't really done it in renewables: they're setting up the new office of renewable energy deployment but it's very slow coming about."

In the case of carbon capture and storage, for instance, the government could put in a pipeline for the transportation of carbon dioxide and companies wanting to use it could pay to use it.

*Mandate a HVDC cable*

"There's a strategic role for government there," he says. "With offshore wind too there's a difference between the government and ourselves. We believe there should be put in place - or at least mandated to be put in place - a high-voltage DC cable that would scoop up the output of the offshore windfarms rather than expecting them to have their own point-to-point connection with National Grid."

Would this more direct engagement policy have implications for regulation, I wonder? Hendry is circumspect. He says he much prefers evolution to revolution and acknowledges that Ofgem's broader powers make sense. "We have to decide if that can evolve into a broader level of regulation or whether there needs to be wholesale change. There are certainly people who are saying to us: 'Have a narrower focus for the regulator, and then do some of the other things through the Competition Commission.'"

*Smart meters*

We talk about other issues. On smart meters, Hendry makes it clear that although the party has favoured giving the responsibility to the network companies rather than the suppliers, an incoming Conservative government would not overturn the rollout formula that has emerged. "There are benefits in the central communications model," he says. "This is an area where you want to find common ground with the government."

In the case of new coal generation, the Conservatives will not accept the idea of "carbon capture ready". Any new coal station must have carbon capture and storage from the start, Hendry insists. He reveals that his party has brought in Lord Oxburgh to set up a panel to look at the practical steps needed to drive forward investment.

Hendry intimates that the Conservatives are interested in Dieter Helm's ideas about a low-carbon obligation. So, will that mean the Tories ditch the Renewables Obligation and Renewables Obligation Certificates (Rocs)? "We recognise that business has planned for the use of Rocs and so any change would need to assure investors that they will continue to have certainty in the funding arrangements for renewables," he replies.

*Fuel poverty*

On fuel poverty, Hendry makes it clear that he thinks the issue is more one that should be addressed by government than left at the door of the energy suppliers. "There may be a case for government doing it more centrally with support from the industry," he says. "It's a balance about what the natural role for government is and what the appropriate role for business is."

I ask if there will be an energy bill in the first session of a new Conservative government. Hendry says there will be a lot of competition for parliamentary time, but claims the Conservatives are keen to see some early changes in terms of information on bills, social tariffs and energy use comparisons. "This may be done as a separate, stand-alone piece of legislation or through a private members' bill, rather than requiring a major energy bill to deliver it," he says.

If things pan out, what will be his priority when he moves into the energy minister's office? Easy - it must be to take action. "Get on with it. Time isn't on your side," he says. "Make some decisions, otherwise the country will be completely unforgiving if you don't secure the plants to keep the lights on." The writing will be on the wall, clearly.