1 week Ago By Nicholas Cecil
Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband pledged that average household energy bills will be £300 lower by 2030 as Britain shifts to a greener economy. Labour made the promise during the general election campaign but there has been uncertainty about the timescale by when the new Government is aiming to deliver it. Pressed on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on when bills would be cut by £300 on average, Mr Miliband said: “We set that out for 2030.
“It was an independent set of modelling that said that bills could go down by about £300.” Wind and solar farms, as well as other renewables would be the “absolute backbone” of the new green energy system, he added, though it would also involve nuclear power and decarbonised gas, with carbon capture technology. Tory MPs have criticised the new Labour government for piling costs on families with the shift to green energy, with Britain making the change earlier than many other countries.
Taxpayers will contribute around £14 billion in environmental levies by 2029 to subsidise clean-energy producers, according to the independent watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility. Mr Miliband, who was at the Cop29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan , admitted that the Government had to take voters with it on the shift to green energy, by ensuring that it leads to lower bills. He argued: “What is important is that the report that I referred to last week from the energy system operator confirms that not only is our target achievable but it will lead to lower costs of electricity.
“It’s the big change that I was talking about. “It’s the change that renewables are now cheaper than fossil fuels and what is crucial also is not just cheaper but it gives us more security. “The truth is because we don’t control fossil fuel markets when geo-political events happen.
..prices go up, not just for imported gas but for North Sea gas as well.
“So what we are doing is transitioning to cheap clean power that we control. We set the price for example of offshore wind 15 years ahead.” But he was challenged with an analysis from an expert at the highly-respected Institute for Fiscal Studies that green energy levies could push up household bills by £120.
Mr Miliband argued that “in the round” they would fall. But it was not clear whether this meant they would be lower compared to what is projected to happen with a fossil fuel-driven energy system in the future, or from the current prices..
