Energy

How will Brexit Britain cut emissions – and keep the lights on?

Many remarkable things happened immediately after the Brexit referendum. One is often overlooked: The House of Commons adopted the Fifth Carbon Budget, reaffirming the targets of the Climate Change Act 2008. More than half of the greenhouse gas emission reduction in the UK is due to policies and measures that originate in Brussels rather than in London. In 2014, one quarter of UK emission reductions were achieved by paying companies in Eastern Europe to reduce theirs instead. Brexit will have a profound effect on three central planks of UK climate policy – nuclear power, interconnection, and permit trade – but the government pretends that nothing will change. When he was

It’s no surprise that smart meters are proving unpopular with the public

Yesterday, Ross Clark argued over on Coffee House that the government’s Clean Growth Strategy – that is, a promise to insulate a million of the leakiest homes with the aid of £3.6 billion raised through the Energy Company Obligation (aka, a levy on all energy customers’ bills) – was a dubious government target. The strategy, while well-meaning in theory, is never going to work, he argues. Many would argue that another government strategy – that is, the push to install smart meters in our homes – is similarly dubious. Having said that, it’s all very well offering the new technology to people (though there have been reports of energy companies ‘bullying’

Interview: Centrica CEO, Iain Conn, on the energy price cap

Theresa May had wanted Ofgem to introduce a energy price cap: it said this would require new legislation and today the Prime Minister will promise to create them by capping the Standard Variable Tariff. The case for the prosecution is simple: about 70 per cent of energy users are not on cheap tariffs, but the ‘standard’ variable tariff which is about £300 more expensive than the best deals. Competition works for those who switch, but for those who tend not to (especially the poor and the elderly) the system is demonstrably not working for them. Centrica thinks otherwise and it sponsored a podcast, which we released yesterday, where I ask

Are smart meters the future, whether we like them or not?

The ‘smart meter revolution’ is well and truly upon us, thanks mainly to a government campaign urging us all to have one installed in our homes. The £11bn campaign requires all energy suppliers to offer households a smart meter – which, in theory, should allow people to see exactly how much energy their house is using, and send meter readings to your energy supplier automatically – by 2020, or risk facing fines. With smart meters being offered for ‘free’ by energy suppliers, and the adverts sounding so appealing (after all, who wants to let ‘Gaz and Leccy’, as they’ve been coined in the publicity campaign, run wild in their home?),

Time and technology are overtaking the arguments for Hinckley Point

The price of offshore wind power has halved, making those giant inshore turbine arrays we love to hate look competitive with new nuclear power for the first time. The headline number in this story is £57.50, which is the guaranteed electricity price per megawatt hour bid by two windfarm ventures in the government’s latest ‘contracts for difference’ subsidy auction. Both due for first delivery in 2022-23, these projects at Hornsea on the East Yorkshire coast and Moray East off the north of Scotland, are between them theoretically capable of powering 2.4 million homes. Just two years ago, windfarms were bidding up to £120 per megawatt hour in comparable auctions; their

Cheating German car-makers are good news for Brexiteers

It came as no great surprise to learn that the EU competition authorities are crawling all over the three major -German car-makers, Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler, to investigate collusion via ‘secret technology working groups’ dating back to the 1990s. The most damaging allegation — reported by Der Speigel — is that the three groups colluded over the use of AdBlue, an additive that neutralises -diesel emissions, by agreeing to use small but inadequate AdBlue tanks in their cars when larger, more expensive ones might have done the job properly. (BMW denied that story, but the other two groups declined to comment.) This follows the 2015 emissions -scandal in which half

No left turn

It would be easy to dismiss Jeremy Corbyn’s launch of the Labour party’s election campaign this week on the grounds that hardly anyone believes he has the slightest chance of becoming prime minister. But given that David Cameron was given a 0.5 per cent chance of winning a majority, and Donald Trump a 1 per cent chance of the presidency, it would be foolish not to take the main opposition party seriously. At the very least, Corbyn’s ideas need to be examined in order to understand why Labour finds itself in the position it does, and why no party leader to the left of Tony Blair has won a general election

More gas, less wind

The Global Wind Energy Council recently released its latest report, excitedly boasting that ‘the proliferation of wind energy into the global power market continues at a furious pace, after it was revealed that more than 54 gigawatts of clean renewable wind power was installed across the global market last year’. You may have got the impression from announcements like that, and from the obligatory pictures of wind turbines in any BBC story or airport advert about energy, that wind power is making a big contribution to world energy today. You would be wrong. Its contribution is still, after decades — nay centuries — of development, trivial to the point of

The four major flaws with Theresa May’s energy cap

Better access to education. Tax cuts for anyone in the struggling middle. More affordable homes, and more money for the National Heath Service. There is nothing wrong with Theresa May seeking to stake out the centre ground of British politics and stop Brexit turning into a right-wing campaign to turn back the clock. But one might have imagined she’d use conservative means to achieve this, rather than raiding Ed Miliband’s last manifesto for ideas. The proposed price cap on energy companies is an alarming example of Mrs May’s left turn. There are so many ways in which the price cap is a genuinely terrible idea that it is hard to

Why Theresa May’s 1970s-style energy price caps won’t work

Better access to education. Tax cuts for anyone in the struggling middle. More affordable homes, and more money for the National Heath Service. There is nothing wrong with Theresa May seeking to stake out the centre ground of British politics and stop Brexit turning into a right-wing campaign to turn back the clock. But one might have imagined she’d use conservative means to achieve this, rather than raiding Ed Miliband’s last manifesto for ideas. The proposed price cap on energy companies is an alarming example of Mrs May’s left turn. There are so many ways in which the price cap is a genuinely terrible idea that it is hard to

Martin Vander Weyer

Capping prices to win votes is no substitute for a serious energy strategy

Is capping domestic energy prices an equitable way to help the ‘just about managing’, or an electoral gimmick with a whiff of anti-free-market ideology? When it was Ed Miliband’s idea, it was certainly the latter. Now it’s likely to be included in Theresa May’s manifesto, offering a potential £100 saving for millions of homes on ‘standard variable tariffs’, it is defended by the ever-plausible Sir Michael Fallon as a matter of ‘intervening to make markets work better’. And that, after all, is what the Prime Minister said she would do, wherever necessary, in the interests of fairness. In a regulated market, within which the consumer’s ability to choose the most

Hold the front page: energy providers are against plans to cap bills

I am inundated with press releases, emails and phone calls from PRs, all wanting to talk about their clients, the latest piece of ‘ground-breaking’ research or a news story so innovative that not to publish would have disastrous consequences. While some of these communications are useful and thought-provoking, a fair few are, to use the vernacular, total pants. In journalism, we have a number of phrases to describe these releases, from ‘no shit sherlock’ to ‘night follows day’. Decorum prevents me from mentioning the other, swearier, descriptions. It’s safe to say that Scottish Power’s response to Conservative plans to cap energy prices falls into the ‘night follows day’ news category. Wait,

EDF hikes energy prices for second time this year

I’m really tired of being ripped off. Whether it’s council tax hikes, parking charges or bus tickets (a ten minute journey to the nearest town costs more than £4 where I live), I’ve had enough. And don’t get me started on the size of chocolate bars. So it’s with a weary sigh that I read of another rise in energy bills for EDF customers. It’s proof, if proof were needed, that big companies feel they can do exactly what they want, and sod their customers. Under the changes, people on EDF’s dual-fuel tariff will pay £1,160 a year, substantially more than the cheapest deal on the market. This is a whopping difference, and

The flawed thinking at the heart of the renewable energy swindle

A new report revealing that using wood pellets to generate electricity can actually speed up global warming should be the final nail in the coffin for the flawed policy of biomass subsidies. Policies designed to incentivise green energy use are not only having a dubious effect on climate change, they are destroying biodiversity and even killing many thousands of people. Wood (or to use the technical term covering wood, wood pellets and other burning matter like animal dung, biomass) is by far the most significant renewable energy source. In both the US and the EU, biomass is the single largest source of renewable energy. Owing to poverty, around three billion people globally cook and heat their

Crackdown on catch-up energy bills: Ofgem loses its patience with energy providers

Like many households, my electricity meter is not in a terribly accessible spot. Reaching said meter requires a short stepladder or standing on the kitchen counter. That said, there’s no need for crampons. And so every time someone comes to read the meter, I’m met with the same response. ‘Oh no lass, health and safety. I can’t get up there.’ Needless to say, the meter goes unread. As a result, and also because I pay by direct debit, I’m one of many whose bills are, for the most part, based on estimations (yes, I know I could send in a reading myself but at some point the lekky company really

Want to save money on your energy bill? Try a small supplier

For a long time, the energy market has been dominated by six giants: British Gas, EDF, E.ON, npower, SSE and Scottish Power. According to the latest figures from regulator Ofgem, between them the so-called ‘big six’ have a market share of 85 per cent. The trouble is, they are often the most expensive. Recent years have seen a number of less well-known names emerging in the market, offering better customer service and better prices. So is it time to take the plunge and go with a small supplier? The big six premium Millions of people are languishing on their supplier’s standard tariff. These are the most expensive tariffs, the ones

How to beat rising energy bills

With the winter chill showing no sign of letting up any time soon, it’s even more depressing that some of the big energy suppliers are hiking their prices yet again. Scottish Power customers will see their gas and electricity costs rise 7.8 per cent on average from the end of March, adding £86 on to bills. EDF Energy and Npower have announced similar rises. The good news, however, is that it’s perfectly possible to slash your own bill. Of course, the best way to reduce the cost of energy is simply to use less of it by becoming more energy efficient – for example, by making sure your home is

Money digest: ‘Marmite gate’ and Germany’s tougher stance on Brexit

One and a half million households, many of them poor families or pensioners, are not on the correct energy tariff for their consumption says the Daily Mail’s This Is Money. The big six power giants – British Gas, EDF, Eon, Npower, Scottish Power and SSE – are overcharging by a net amount of £440 million per year, the paper says. Frank Field MP, who chairs the Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee, has written to the Prime Minister to draw attention to the issue. He said that ‘as a next move in protecting the vulnerable human underbelly of British society, the Prime Minister should take the first available opportunity to

In Trump’s Texas, the oil men awaken to hope of new prosperity

 Houston, Texas It’s hard to find anyone in polite society here who admits to having voted for Trump, even among the oil men. But 4.7 million Texans did so, giving him 53 per cent of the popular vote. In redneck rural counties the Donald carried four fifths of the ballot, but Hillary Clinton was ahead in urban Houston, whose citizens pride themselves on good relations between white, black and Latino communities and on the welcome they offer to newcomers — including, a decade ago, a quarter of a million refugees from hurricane-hit New Orleans. But still this is predominantly an oil town, and an industry that has suffered losses and slashed

Philip Hammond, the frankest man in the Cabinet

On Thursday, the Cabinet’s Economic and Industrial Strategy committee met. There were, as I write in The Sun this morning, controversial issues on the agenda: new rules on foreign takeovers of British companies, executive pay and workers on boards. May made clear her views on these questions in the last speech of her leadership campaign. But in this meeting, the members of the committee didn’t simply echo May’s views back at her. One of those present tells me that Philip Hammond made a ‘fearless’ intervention setting out his own, distinct take on these questions. Hammond was then supported by several Cabinet colleagues. It was emphasised that in the context of