The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero states its
mission as being “responsible for UK energy security, protecting
billpayers and reaching net zero”. In this first appearance since
he was appointed Secretary of State, Rt Hon will face Committee questions on the UK's clean
energy transition and progress towards its legally binding target
of a net zero economy by 2050.
Recent evidence to the Committee from the minister for energy
consumers, the National Energy System Operator and the Climate
Change Committee, among others, has repeatedly thrown up the same
issues facing Britain as it navigates the transition.
All have been clear that the key to the energy transition is cost
to consumers: whether that's upfront costs for the technology
required, or energy prices and bills. All were clear that
Government faces a balancing act to apportion the policy costs of
the transition across industry levies, consumer bills and general
taxation in a way that makes the transition possible.
All were clear that the key benefit of the clean energy
transition – aside from the wider environmental and economic
benefits of tackling air pollution and the rapidly rising costs
of climate change – is insulation from geopolitical shocks to
energy supply and prices: decoupling energy prices from gas
supply.
But how and when will we really be able move away from gas as the
basis of both our energy supply and its price? When will our
electricity get cheaper?
How will we scale up renewable energy sources and, crucially,
overcome the planning barriers currently keeping viable renewable
sources in a long queue to connect to the grid? Are there
national security concerns about ownership of renewable
technologies?
How fast can we transition away from the UK's own North Sea oil
and gas, and how will that transition be financed as the
significant tax receipts it provides dry up alongside the
reduction in taxes on petrol for cars?
Ahead of its first Budget, the Government announced massive
investment in ‘carbon capture and storage' technologies but big
questions remain about the effect of the unproven technologies as
well as how they will be financed in the UK.
Why are the UK public being asked to contribute to an unproven
technology that may not significantly “move the dial” on carbon
emissions in time to meet the UK's clean energy targets, but does
reduce available investment for scaling up renewables and
improving the national grid?
On Wednesday 15
January 2025 at 3pm:
- Rt Hon MP, Secretary of State at
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
-
CB, Permanent
Secretary at Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
