Ed Miliband to set out clean energy and EV charging measures: comment

"Doubling down on net zero technologies like wind, solar and electric heat pumps while oil and gas remains volatile is clearly the sensible thing to do for our energy security. Once we have installed a wind turbine or solar panel, we don't need to pay another country for the fuel, which will increasingly be the case with oil and gas as the North Sea continues its inevitable decline. Already worried about energy bills and still saddled with debt after the last energy crisis, British households are voting with their feet for clean technology by installing solar and buying electric vehicles at a rapid rate. This helps shield them from spiking prices that the UK can't control.

"For years, the idea of de-linking gas and electricity prices to make the most of homegrown British renewables has been on the table, and the Government is taking another step towards that which is useful for stabilising our bills. Large wind farms already lowered the wholesale electricity price by around a third last year. [2] With around 90% of oil and gas from the North Sea already extracted [3], and more drilling making no significant difference to our bills or prices at the pump, clean power and electrification is clearly emerging as a way out of another fossil fuel crisis in future."

Commenting on measures to promote EV charging Colin Walker, Head of Transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said: “With the price of petrol and diesel rising rapidly as a result of the war in Iran, interest in EVs is surging as more drivers are looking for ways to avoid these rising costs. [4] Improving access to cross-pavement charging solutions will enable even more households to join the majority that can already charge an EV at home, allowing them to be run for as little as 2p per mile, rather than 17-18p per mile for a petrol car. 

“As well as enabling more households to save hundreds, even thousands, of pounds a year [5] in the midst of an energy crisis, accelerating the UK’s shift to EVs will also enhance the country’s energy security, as we move away from petrol cars that rely on oil imported from abroad, to vehicles that are increasingly powered by electricity generated in British wind and solar farms”.