<\/p>\n
Lowering electricity bills is the aim of a new energy scheme (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n
A plan to weaken the link between electricity prices and the gas market will be unveiled by the UK government today.<\/p>\n
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and the Chancellor Rachel Reeves want to protect consumers from supply chain shocks such as the outbreak of conflicts.<\/p>\n
Under the plan, older renewable energy generators would move to fixed-price contracts, avoiding the variable price of gas.<\/p>\n
It will also represent a doubling down on renewables, rather than a restart for fossil fuels which oil and gas supporters have demanded.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Britain and so many other countries, clean energy is now the only route to financial security, energy security and national security,\u201d Miliband will say.<\/p>\n
He will argue that the war in the Middle East, and the need to tackle climate change make the focus on renewables such as wind, solar and hydro more important and that the UK should go faster in pursuit of net zero goals. <\/p>\n
However, tackling the sources of supply that underpin electricity output when the wind is not blowing is vital. In Britain that is gas and nuclear.<\/p>\n
Ed Miliband: clean energy is key to energy security (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n
A key blockage to translating an increase in wind output into lower bills is that the price of electricity is set by the last unit of electricity needed to meet demand at any given time. In Britain, that last unit is often gas \u2013 which means that when gas prices spike, so do electricity bills.<\/p>\n
Revamping the entire system has been set aside for now in favour of but fixing the price. Opponents claim the plan will increase rather than descrease bills.<\/p>\n
Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho accused Mr Miliband pointed to taxes and levies on bills on top of wholesale prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we want people to use electricity, then we need to make it cheap,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In his manifesto speech last week, SNP leader John Swinney said: \u201cIn\u00a0energy\u00a0rich Scotland, people can\u2019t afford to heat their homes. the problem is not that we don\u2019t have the\u00a0energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is that Westminster has the power. This election is our opportunity to take those powers and put them into Scotland\u2019s hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liberal Democrat energy spokesperson Pippa Heylings said the government should act and break the link between electricity and gas prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have consistently argued that if Britain is generating more and more cheap renewable electricity, households should feel the benefit in lower bills,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Green Party energy spokesperson Carla Denyer said she was \u201crelieved\u201d to hear the plans but accused the government of being too slow to act.<\/p>\n
Angharad Hopkinson, political campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: \u201cBritain is sick and tired of an energy system where pump prices and household bills go up and down based on Trump\u2019s latest social post or the Persian Gulf opening and closing like an umbrella in April. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe government is absolutely right to be looking at every possible solution to cut our dependence on volatile fossil fuels and take back control of our energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obvious that consumers haven\u2019t been taken in by the oil industry\u2019s propaganda. People in Britain still support the transition, both in principle, as shown by polling, and practice, as shown by the boom in EVs, home solar and other clean tech.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t #Ministers #weaken #gas #link #electricity #prices #Daily #Business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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