Comment on Conservative energy bills proposals
Jess ralston is available for further comment and interview.
By George Smeeton
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Commenting on proposals set out today by the Conservative party on energy bills, Jess Ralston, Energy Analyst at the ECIU, said:
"The elephant in the room is that the Government's own legacy on bills is one of low investment in insulating homes, U-turns on warm home standards that would have helped out renters and failure to secure new offshore wind farms that would have taken £1billion off bills. Experts say that had energy efficiency not fallen off a cliff and onshore wind been banned, bill payers would have been £2.5billion better off.
"The net zero target means more British renewables, more insulation and moving off foreign gas imports. It’s obvious to experts and polls show the British public get it, but that’s how the UK will become more energy secure."
Notes to editors:
1. Energy bills remain £450 more expensive than before the gas crisis started (https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/2024/ofgem-price-cap-update-analysis-and-comment) and are set to increase again towards the end of the year (https://www.cornwall-insight.com/press/wholesale-price-hikes-and-ofgem-updates-raise-price-cap-forecast/)
2. The cost of gas is the main reason bills have been high, not green levies. Green levies, officially known as ‘policy costs’ by Ofgem, help to pay for both social and environmental policies, they are not purely ‘green’. These policies help to install energy efficiency measures into low income and vulnerable households and fund the Warm Homes Discount which gives elderly people £150 off their winter heating bill.
3. Last time the Government cut levies on bills it left the country and households ill-prepared for the gas crisis, with some of the least well-insulated homes in Europe, by some estimates adding £2.5bn to energy bills: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-cutting-the-green-crap-has-added-2-5bn-to-uk-energy-bills/
4. ECIU analysis has found that the Government scrapping energy efficiency regulations will hit renters in swing seats hardest: https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/2023/pm-scrapping-energy-efficiency-regulations-to-hit-renters-in-swing-seats-hardest
5. Insulation rates been 95% lower than their peak of 2.3 million measures per year in 2012, when then Prime Minister David Cameron decided to “cut the green crap”: https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/2024/energy-price-cap-poorly-insulated-homes-to-cost-340-more-to-heat-from-april
6. New offshore wind farms could have saved bill payers £1bn by generating cheaper electricity, but the Government failed to secure any new wind farms at its last renewable energy auction: https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/2023/billpayers-could-miss-out-on-1bn-a-year-in-savings-due-to-wind-auction-error
For more information or for interview requests:
George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: +44 (0)7894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net