3 hours agoShareSaveJoshua NevettPolitical reporterShareSavePA MediaEd Miliband has said the government’s drive to deliver clean power is “the best way” to bring down energy costs, amid calls from opposition parties to scrap green levies. The energy secretary told an industry conference the UK’s dependence on fossil fuels was its “Achilles’ heel” and argued clean power was the only way to reduce bills.The UK government is aiming for clean power to meet 95% of electricity demand by 2030, and Miliband has pledged to lower average bills by £300 by that date.But bills went up by 2% for millions of people in England, Wales and Scotland under energy regulator Ofgem’s latest price cap this month. The cost of household energy bills has become a prominent political battleground, with the Conservatives and Reform UK blaming net-zero policies for higher prices.The UK government is under a legal obligation to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, after a law change passed in 2019 with cross-party support. However, political consensus on the goal has since broken down, with the Conservatives announcing last week they would axe the legally binding target, end subsidies for renewables and ditch taxes on carbon emissions.Reform UK, which gained its first MPs at last year’s general election, has pledged to scrap net zero and “wage war” on renewables developers if it wins power.There was a rapid spike in energy prices in 2021, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and although costs have gone down, they have remained high by historical standards.Energy experts say higher costs have primarily been driven by the UK’s reliance on gas and its exposure to its volatile prices on international markets.But there are costs to renewables too, including green levies to fund the rollout of renewables and upgrades to the electricity grid.Ofgem said higher bills this winter were the result of extra funding for means-tested discounts off energy bills, and system costs, including switching generators such as windfarms on and off.The Conservatives and Reform UK have honed in on the cost of energy in the UK as their main justification for scrapping net zero, and argue Miliband’s pledge of lowering bills by £300 won’t be realised.But in his speech to a conference organised by Energy UK, an industry group, Miliband insisted renewable power was cheaper than gas.”Dependency on global fossil fuel markets is this country’s energy Achilles heel,” Miliband told delegates.”Some people want to double down on this weakness – this government disagrees.”We believe that the sprint for clean power is the best way to reliably bring down bills for good and give us energy abundance.”On Monday, the UK government announced the approval of a large solar farm in Lincolnshire and said it had approved enough clean energy projects to power the equivalent of more than 7.5 million homes.Heated debateBut at the Energy UK conference, industry bosses urged the UK government to take urgent action to reduce the costs of electricity for households and businesses.Dhara Vyas, Energy UK’s CEO, said electricity costs had been high for too long and “customers cannot be expected to shrug off persistently high bills because of benefits some years away”.”The widespread concern about bills is of course closely linked with public perception and the discussion about how we fairly pay for the cost of the transition,” Ms Vyvas said.She said taking action to reduce energy bills should be top of the government’s to-do list ahead of the upcoming autumn Budget.Ministers are considering removing policy costs from energy bills to make electricity cheaper.Policy costs are effectively government taxes used to fund environmental and social schemes, such as subsidies for renewables.These costs made up about 16% of an electricity bill and 6% of a gas bill last year, according to research by the charity Nesta.The Climate Change Committee has long recommended removing policy costs from electricity bills to help people feel the benefits of net-zero transition.One option – backed by Energy UK – is shifting policy costs from electricity bills to gas.’Take on myths’Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and Conservative shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho also gave speeches at the Energy UK conference in London.The Liberal Democrats have set out a plan to increase investment in clean energy and change how new renewable projects are paid for. They say their plan could halve energy bills by 2035.In his speech, Sir Ed contrasted his party’s proposals with those of Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, claiming he was inspired by US President Donald Trump and would “put up bills, destroy jobs and hurt the economy, while climate change rages on”.”So now the cross-party consensus on investing in renewables has been shattered,” Sir Ed said. “And it would be incredibly complacent and dange …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn3 hours agoShareSaveJoshua NevettPolitical reporterShareSavePA MediaEd Miliband has said the government’s drive to deliver clean power is “the best way” to bring down energy costs, amid calls from opposition parties to scrap green levies. The energy secretary told an industry conference the UK’s dependence on fossil fuels was its “Achilles’ heel” and argued clean power was the only way to reduce bills.The UK government is aiming for clean power to meet 95% of electricity demand by 2030, and Miliband has pledged to lower average bills by £300 by that date.But bills went up by 2% for millions of people in England, Wales and Scotland under energy regulator Ofgem’s latest price cap this month. The cost of household energy bills has become a prominent political battleground, with the Conservatives and Reform UK blaming net-zero policies for higher prices.The UK government is under a legal obligation to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, after a law change passed in 2019 with cross-party support. However, political consensus on the goal has since broken down, with the Conservatives announcing last week they would axe the legally binding target, end subsidies for renewables and ditch taxes on carbon emissions.Reform UK, which gained its first MPs at last year’s general election, has pledged to scrap net zero and “wage war” on renewables developers if it wins power.There was a rapid spike in energy prices in 2021, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and although costs have gone down, they have remained high by historical standards.Energy experts say higher costs have primarily been driven by the UK’s reliance on gas and its exposure to its volatile prices on international markets.But there are costs to renewables too, including green levies to fund the rollout of renewables and upgrades to the electricity grid.Ofgem said higher bills this winter were the result of extra funding for means-tested discounts off energy bills, and system costs, including switching generators such as windfarms on and off.The Conservatives and Reform UK have honed in on the cost of energy in the UK as their main justification for scrapping net zero, and argue Miliband’s pledge of lowering bills by £300 won’t be realised.But in his speech to a conference organised by Energy UK, an industry group, Miliband insisted renewable power was cheaper than gas.”Dependency on global fossil fuel markets is this country’s energy Achilles heel,” Miliband told delegates.”Some people want to double down on this weakness – this government disagrees.”We believe that the sprint for clean power is the best way to reliably bring down bills for good and give us energy abundance.”On Monday, the UK government announced the approval of a large solar farm in Lincolnshire and said it had approved enough clean energy projects to power the equivalent of more than 7.5 million homes.Heated debateBut at the Energy UK conference, industry bosses urged the UK government to take urgent action to reduce the costs of electricity for households and businesses.Dhara Vyas, Energy UK’s CEO, said electricity costs had been high for too long and “customers cannot be expected to shrug off persistently high bills because of benefits some years away”.”The widespread concern about bills is of course closely linked with public perception and the discussion about how we fairly pay for the cost of the transition,” Ms Vyvas said.She said taking action to reduce energy bills should be top of the government’s to-do list ahead of the upcoming autumn Budget.Ministers are considering removing policy costs from energy bills to make electricity cheaper.Policy costs are effectively government taxes used to fund environmental and social schemes, such as subsidies for renewables.These costs made up about 16% of an electricity bill and 6% of a gas bill last year, according to research by the charity Nesta.The Climate Change Committee has long recommended removing policy costs from electricity bills to help people feel the benefits of net-zero transition.One option – backed by Energy UK – is shifting policy costs from electricity bills to gas.’Take on myths’Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and Conservative shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho also gave speeches at the Energy UK conference in London.The Liberal Democrats have set out a plan to increase investment in clean energy and change how new renewable projects are paid for. They say their plan could halve energy bills by 2035.In his speech, Sir Ed contrasted his party’s proposals with those of Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, claiming he was inspired by US President Donald Trump and would “put up bills, destroy jobs and hurt the economy, while climate change rages on”.”So now the cross-party consensus on investing in renewables has been shattered,” Sir Ed said. “And it would be incredibly complacent and dange …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
