Commenting on the Climate Change Committee's latest
assessment of Government's progress on reducing UK emissions,
MP, Chair of the ESNZ
Committee, said:
“The CCC has rightly focussed on bringing down the cost of
electricity in the UK. This is the central plank on which the
clean energy transition rests. The moves in Monday's Industrial
Strategy to cut the UK's energy input costs for industry are also
very welcome: high energy costs are hurting UK competitiveness
and deterring investment.
“But it's not clear that the mechanisms to bring costs down that
are being proposed by Government or the CCC are sufficient, or
sustainable. Reducing the policy costs on electricity is an easy
win that my Committee has also recommended but the bulk of the
cost, and the part still fully exposed to volatile fossil fuel
prices and at the mercy of geopolitics, is the wholesale price.
“Our energy generation sector has reduced its own carbon
emissions 82% since 2008 and is responsible for 49% of the UK's
overall emissions reduction in the last two decades. But our
methods of pricing electricity mean that gas-fired power stations
still set the price 98% of the time. The sooner we have
significantly more renewable generation on the system, the sooner
we will see prices fall as renewables are a cheaper way of
producing electricity than gas. We need to see the benefits of
the electricity generation transition more quickly reflected in
people's energy bills.
“There are positive signs that surface transport emissions and
decarbonising buildings are moving in the right direction but, as
my Committee recently reported on the national home retrofit
project: nowhere near fast enough to meet targets and bring the
benefits that will drive the UK's missions the rest of the way.
Many people already have access to low tariffs and have been able
to take advantage of the benefits available in the energy
transition. As electricity becomes cheaper for more people, the
adoption of electric vehicles and heating will be further
boosted, driven by practical, good economics in households across
the country.”
“The answer is and remains a laser-like focus, including in
investment and infrastructure, on homegrown energy that reduces
our dependence on fossil fuels and the international economic
casino they are traded in.”
