The Government has published its draft energy bill, outlining plans to encourage investment in nuclear and renewable energy.

Announcing the plans, Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: "The draft bill includes measures necessary to reform the electricity market to deliver secure, clean and affordable electricity.

He added: "I am confident that measures contained in this Energy Bill will enable us to keep the lights on, bills down and air clean."

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier, Mr Davey said: "We’re talking in the next decade of £110bn of infrastructure, and let’s remember consumers already pay for infrastructure at the moment in their bills and people forget this."

Volker Beckers, the chief executive of RWE Npower, told the same programme the proposals would be “crucial”, and admitted “huge investment” was needed to fund a new wave of nuclear stations.

But the chair of the Energy Committee, Tim Yeo, was sceptical, telling Today the bill is "moving in the right direction" but still has "lots of gaps".

The Government has published its draft energy bill, outlining plans to encourage investment in nuclear and renewable energy.

Announcing the plans, Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: "The draft bill includes measures necessary to reform the electricity market to deliver secure, clean and affordable electricity.

He added: "I am confident that measures contained in this Energy Bill will enable us to keep the lights on, bills down and air clean."

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier, Mr Davey said: "We’re talking in the next decade of £110bn of infrastructure, and let’s remember consumers already pay for infrastructure at the moment in their bills and people forget this."

Volker Beckers, the chief executive of RWE Npower, told the same programme the proposals would be “crucial”, and admitted “huge investment” was needed to fund a new wave of nuclear stations.

But the chair of the Energy Committee, Tim Yeo, was sceptical, telling Today the bill is "moving in the right direction" but still has "lots of gaps".

The Government's new energy bill is likely to leave the UK dependent on gas, environmental groups have warned. The Electricity Market Reform bill was originally conceived to promote nuclear power, but problems with the cost of subsidies and fears about the commercial viability of nuclear generators have led to a number of power companies dropping out.

The Government has made a significant U-turn on the extraction of shale gas known as "fracking" after experts said it would be uneconomical to extract.

David Cameron is to review a plan for a £30bn 10-mile tidal barrage from Somerset to South Wales. The barrage could provide 5% of Britain's total electricity and the Prime Minister has indicated he supports the plan, saying it could deliver a huge amount of renewable energy. Peter Hain, who resigned from the Shadow Cabinet to promote the plan, described it as "credible and serious".

Household energy prices have "rocketed" since, according to comparison site uswitch.com. A study found that bills had risen five times faster than household income over the last eight years. Shadow Energy Secretary Caroline Flint called on the Government to "get a grip on energy bills" and implement Labour's proposal to put all over-75s on the cheapest tariff.

Environmentalists have welcomed hints from Energy Minister Greg Barker that the Government may delay the next round of cuts to the feed-in tariffs for solar panels.

Mr Barker last night tweeted that "having listened to industry, wea re looking at scope for pushing back a little the next proposed reduction in the solar tariffs".

Howard Johns, a spokesman for the Cut Don't Kill campaign said:

"For months the Cut Don’t Kill campaign has been warning that the government is cutting too far and too fast in the solar sector. Panel installations are 50% down on a year ago and over 6,000 jobs have been lost in the industry since last summer.

"We take no pleasure in being proven right but hope the government will now take the opportunity to implement solar policy that is sensible and sustainable.”

Energy bills are predicted to rise by up to 20% this winter, according to experts after British Gas owners Centrica warned that wholesale costs were up 15% on last year. Industry analysts told The Daily Express that they expected the company to put up bills by 19% and that the other major suppliers that make up the Big Six are expected to follow suit.