I think it would only be fair for me today to begin to note, again, as Simon Thomas has already said, an enormous missed opportunity we've seen in Swansea bay lately. This isn't just about the energy benefits that a lagoon could have brought, if it is to be rejected, but it's also about another example in a long line of examples where a London Government has ignored Wales, erased Wales out of their minds. Put simply, the tidal lagoon debacle shows that, for the UK Government, Wales just does not matter.

The benefits of a tidal lagoon are positive: long-term, low-cost energy that would have made Wales a world leader in the sector; capital investment in my region of added value that would have been hard to quantify, since we hardly ever get any major capital investment in our country any more, particularly in my region; and, of course, for Swansea bay, as my colleague Dr Dai Lloyd would say, this comes after the insult of losing the investment in electrification by the UK Government too. The tidal lagoon demonstrates that UK Government is simply not interested in Wales.

It's obvious that, if Wales wants to move forward, we have to look at our own skills and create our own opportunities, as Llyr Huws Gruffydd said so eloquently earlier. How can we develop the energy base and skills for the future? Plaid Cymru has been calling for a national energy company for some time, as has been exemplified earlier—lower cost energy and more control, greater investment opportunities and breaking into what is a heavily monopolised sector. When privatisation was first mooted, the point was to allow choice, competition and a view to drive up standards, but, like so many other privatisation drives, this isn't what has happened. Now, here in Wales, despite being an energy powerhouse in comparison to many other places of our size, we have some of the highest energy costs, and it shouldn't be like this.

So, we propose an end to the energy giants' monopoly in Wales. The potential rewards could be massive. Just imagine how we could tackle fuel poverty. In Aberdeen, the city has set up Aberdeen Heat and Power, a not-for-profit energy company, backed initially by local authority loans and guarantees to provide lower cost heating for local authority and social housing tenants. AHP now supplies heating and hot water for flats in 33 multistorey blocks and 15 public buildings. Many of those blocks had very low energy ratings, they were difficult and expensive to heat, and 70 per cent of multistorey blocks in Aberdeen were in fuel poverty. Now, carbon emissions have gone down by 45 per cent, and the cost to tenants to heat and power their homes has gone down by around 50 per cent. There is virtually no fuel poverty now, and this shows what we could do to break the power of the energy monopolies. And, if a city in Scotland can do it, why not Wales? An umbrella body, a national company, would facilitate the community initiatives already in place and would act as a rocket booster for this sector. As has been mentioned by Jenny Rathbone already, the city of Hamburg in Germany, a city of nearly 2 million, is in the process of buying up their city energy grid and moving to not-for-profit services. Ynni Cymru could also act as a supplier and investor in the renewable energy sector that our country desperately needs. We've seen opportunities go by the wayside, and some projects in discussion so long they eventually die a death.

A national energy company could properly invest in solar energy. Research for the Solar Trade Association in 2014 showed that, on a UK level, bold ambition for both large-scale domestic and commercial rooftop solar could support an average of nearly 50,000 jobs a year between 2014 and 2030. Now, that was 2014. Costs are coming down as technology advances and energy production potential increases, but we are missing the boat and not keeping pace with other countries. In Germany, again, about 20,000 households are already part of an initiative that connects homes that independently produce energy. A virtual network allows them to buy and sell excess energy to each other at a reduced cost. There are other micro-grids developing elsewhere, such as in Brooklyn in the United States.

Now, there are some great projects in Wales already, and we need to encourage and support them. Llyr mentioned Wrexham, and I think that's something we have to start. If we can get local authorities to put solar panels on their council houses—I know UKIP would obviously disagree with this, but I think that that would be something that we could see as something positive, so that people could then have lower bills for their energy consumption. I visited the Rhondda tunnel project again this week, and their plans are to develop microhydropower powered by local waterworks in Nant Gwynfi, which would illuminate the tunnel and premises locally, and give income from the excess to, then, the Rhondda Tunnel Ltd, once they become a company.

Now, these are really amazing concepts that we need to be supporting here in Wales. Even when the National Assembly committee makes recommendations, as the energy and sustainability committee did on this issue, recommending a national umbrella energy not-for-profit, the Welsh Government didn't then see a case for action, and I'd question why not. A continuation of the ad hoc small scale ventures is appropriate from time to time, but if they had a national company that would support them and be able to invest in them then this would show a bold vision for our national Government and show leadership in that regard. So, I would urge the Welsh Government to come out of their comfort zone in this regard and to set up this company to show that we do have a vision for Wales and that we can actually keep up with the developments across Europe. At the moment, we are lagging far behind, and we shouldn't have to, because of the wealth of energy that we do have here in Wales.