When will clean power bring our bills down? ESNZ Chair Bill Esterson comments on Government's 2030 Action Plan

“The pursuit of clean power has to mean the pursuit of secure energy with lower bills. When President Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine our UK energy price cap ballooned by £1300 a year, even though Russia provided only 4% of our gas imports. The then Government spent £44 billion of taxpayers’ money to subsidise households’ energy bills, the biggest such intervention in UK history.

“What Putin’s impact on energy supplies and prices exposed was the extraordinarily high costs of our dependence on fossil fuels - before we even consider the costs of climate change - and we will be hostage to geopolitical events and the ensuing price shocks as long as that dependence lasts.

“I am encouraged by the priority Government is giving this critical mission and look forward to the role being played by the committee in scrutinising the detail of the action plan - including finding potential solutions to several of the roadblocks in the way: growing a skilled workforce, building domestic supply chains and scaling up community energy’s contribution to meeting our Clean Power goals.

“But the key question for Government now is exactly what role gas plays in the Clean Power Plan, what role it has in our future energy mix - and when will we start to feel the benefits, in our energy bills, of escaping our dependence on fossil fuel.”

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