Politics
Britain is now in the unexpected position of having the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties all agreeing on the need for nuclear power. A Lib Dem Minister is overseeing a chaotic and unsuccessful energy policy and it will be a very useful area for the other political parties to showcase Lib Dem incompetence in the run-up to the next general election. No doubt party bigwigs argued that at the very least the Lib Dems needed to get their policy in line with their actions – hence the need for the Lib Dem members to vote for nuclear power, which they dutifully did. This raises a number of questions about how Britain makes long term decisions for energy policy with its large, long lived infrastructure. Britain is going through ‘Electricity Market Reform’. The outcome has been zero reform (if reform is taken to mean making the system more fit for purpose) albeit many changes have occurred.
IGov 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
Miliband pledged to decarbonise the UK’s energy sector by 2030 and freeze energy prices for 20 months from 2015. While Miliband hopes the price freeze policy will be popular with voters suffering from rising energy bills, energy companies were quick to criticise the plans. Miliband’s announcement led to a flurry of responses claiming Labour’s plans could be economically ruinous – some companies even threatened to pull out of the UK market as a result. Labour remains confident its plans won’t cause a market meltdown. A party representative told Carbon Brief that the industry makes long-term investments, with a 20 month price freeze expected to have little effect on decades-long infrastructure plans. Nuclear and renewable energy providers are also set to be offered a guaranteed price for electricity for a minimum of 15 years under the government’s upcoming electricity market reforms – giving long-term price certainty for those sections of the industry – according to the spokesperson. Nonetheless, Labour’s plans still need fleshing out. Until then, it looks like both Miliband and the energy industry are going to continue to play to their respective galleries. Labour’s plans would mean a fundamental shake up of the way the UK’s energy system works. While cheaper energy bills may sound like a nice idea to most voters, there currently isn’t enough evidence one way or the other to really judge how the proposal could affect the UK’s economy. Miliband may well have some explaining to do once the dust settles – but his intervention could signal a shift in the way the country looks at the energy debate, forcing another look at how the industry makes money. And he’s certainly got people talking about Labour.
Carbon Brief 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Let’s call Ed Miliband’s pledge to freeze energy prices for 20 months if he wins the 2015 election exactly what it is: a giant bluff. He says the companies are profitable enough to absorb the freeze, they predictably disagree. And – you read it here first – the big six energy companies are going to blink before he does. To explain why that is going to happen, I need to debunk the desperate nonsense being talked by the energy companies and their political and media allies. The first myth being peddled is that the price freeze will obliterate the many billions of investment needed to rebuild the UK’s energy infrastructure, now crumbling due to 20 years of under-investment by the big six. But Miliband’s policy affects only the relationship between the companies and the customers they have abused and bamboozled for so long. There is a hiatus in investment at present, but that is because the coalition refuses to put in place any certainty after the cliff-edge in 2020 when all clean energy targets end. Miliband has committed to making the UK’s electricity carbon-free by 2030, unlike the coalition. Tom Burke, who as longtime former advisor to Conservative ministers, former head of Friends of the Earth and Rio Tinto employee, has a unique viewpoint is clear in his assessment: “The truth is that this will be good for the economy, good for consumers, good for most businesses – except the big six – and good for the environment as well.” Co-operative energy has welcomed the price freeze. The big six will blink first because they have blown it. Like many corporate giants they have spent too long dragging their feet, sweating assets and protecting the status quo, instead of getting ahead of the curve.
Guardian 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Ed Miliband is right about resetting the energy market. A price freeze, a breakup of the big providers and better regulation are much needed but so too is a low-carbon future. So, is he right to try to “reset” the energy market? Yes. The current structure does not work: companies are slow to put prices down when wholesale costs fall, there’s a bamboozling array of tariffs, mis-selling on the doorstep and executive pay excess. A retail market where six huge companies have 98% of retail market share is uncompetitive and has led to a situation where the mis-selling of products and other abuses have led to a series of fines by the regulator, Ofgem. But beyond the arrogance and dominance of the big six, Britain has a genuine problem in trying to modernise its power systems and recalibrate them to produce lower carbon emissions. The potential £100bn-plus cost of this is expected to be met by the consumer alone. This is also why fuel poverty is growing.
Guardian 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Lord Mandelson took aim at Ed Miliband’s call for a 20-month freeze on gas and electricity prices on Wednesday, claiming that the Labour leader’s demand for a resetting of the energy market could create the impression that the party’s industrial policy was going backwards. The former business secretary suggested that Miliband’s speech, widely praised across the Labour party, could be seen as taking the party back to a previous era in which the options for industrial policy amounted to either state control or laissez-faire. Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former press secretary, disagreed with Mandelson saying in a tweet: “Peter M wrong re energy policy being shift to left. It is putting consumer first v anti competitive force. More New Deal than old Labour.”
Guardian 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Times 26th Sept 2013 read more »
Miliband’s energy price cap is a brilliant trap for the Tories. The Tories’ natural aversion to price controls means they will struggle to support a cap, leaving Miliband free to present Cameron as siding with the companies over the consumers. One senior Labour strategist told me after the speech that the party had focused-grouped the policy and that voter approval was “off the scale”. Polling has consistently shown that of every ‘cost-of-living’ issue, it is energy prices that are the public’s greatest concern. With this intervention, Miliband has framed himself as a strong leader prepared to stand up to predatory firms on behalf of the little guy.
New Statesman 24th Sept 2013 read more »
I’m a little surprised at the overblown reaction from some, at least, of the big six energy companies on the specific point of a freeze. No-one likes having a potential profit line removed for a while, that is true, but no, of course, the imposition of a price freeze will not cause the end of energy investment, blackouts, companies closing down etc etc. It is, in itself a re-run, with similar justification and possible overall financial effect to the ‘energy windfall levy’ imposed by the Blair Government shortly after it came to power in 1997. That levy raised about £5 billion with no terrible consequences for anyone. This price freeze might produce the loss of about £4.5 billion in unsecured income for energy companies, depending of course, on what wholesale prices do in the meantime. Although some of the wailing may have to do with the fact that some companies have, in effect already staked out their outline price position by buying very far ahead of the curve in the gas market, and may find it difficult to adjust should the freeze go ahead.
Alan Whitehead’s Blog 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Uncertainty is now the only certainty in the UK energy market after the opposition Labour party said it will freeze retail energy prices between May 2015 and January 2017 if it wins the next general election. Labour’s move piles yet another layer of policy risk on to power utilities that are already struggling with the complexities of existing electricity market reform (EMR), the biggest redesign of the wholesale electricity market since Labour launched new trading arrangements (Neta) in 2001. Labour’s announcement underscores the UK’s position as a leader in the new wave of energy market intervention in the EU. Final investment decisions on new generation now look unlikely ahead of the general election in May 2015 and beyond as investors will wonder what the next seismic shift in policy could be. The incumbent coalition government said blackouts could result but Labour denied its strategy could hit investment in generation or stunt the growth of renewables. In the wholesale market, forward prices for the proposed retail-freeze period showed little reaction today. But there will be pressure on some suppliers to lock in prices and reduce exposure to the potential disconnect between wholesale and retail prices, with speculative buying interest also possible.
Argus Media 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Labour London Assembly spokesperson for the Environment Murad Qureshi welcomed the proposals announced yesterday to freeze gas and electricity prices. Previous research has estimated that 1.6 million children are currently living in fuel poverty across the UK and 3,710 Londoners die each year due to living in a cold home. Latest statistics reveal that nearly 300,000 London homes are judged to be fuel poor by the government’s new definition of fuel poverty which means nearly 10% of London’s homes are in fuel poverty.
London Labour 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Price freeze or consumer squeeze? Two experts give their view on Labour’s plans for lower energy prices.
Independent 26th Sept 2013 read more »
Ed Miliband’s call for an energy price freeze will resonate well with consumers increasingly fed-up with rising fuel bills. But the Labour leader may have picked the wrong target. Experts say the real drivers of mounting energy costs are factors outside the big six energy suppliers’ control – such as green policies pursued by the coalition but with their roots in the Labour government where Mr Miliband was energy secretary. The choice of rallying cry is astute. Energy bills have increased 37 per cent since 2007, far outstripping the 3 per cent rise in household incomes over the same period. Ofgem, the energy regulator, has found that bills rise when wholesale prices go up but do not go down enough when they fall. But there is scepticism about Labour’s claim that profiteering is to blame. As in many European countries, British consumers are footing the bill for subsidies introduced to encourage a move to low carbon power generation. These are expected to increase to help bring on a new generation of offshore wind farms and nuclear power plants. But Citigroup analysts estimate that this financial support, combined with government energy efficiency schemes, could push up bills 50 per cent by 2020.
FT 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Ed Miliband ensured one thing when he announced a price freeze on consumers’ energy bills at this week’s Labour party conference: headlines. His policy was on the front of every national newspaper and led every news broadcast. And with good cause. Many greeted it as a “return to the bad old days” of the worst type of state intervention; a move that would herald a return to a three-day week, doing one’s homework by candlelight and the ruination of British companies. But it caught the imagination for another simple reason: most consumers are fed up with ever-increasing gas and electricity bills landing on their doormats. Analysts believe the most likely effect of a price freeze would be a delay in companies making any investment decisions. Britain is in dire need of new power stations to replace the old gas-fired ones that are being mothballed. According to the Government, there needs to be £110 billion of private sector investment between now and 2020 to meet all our green energy targets. “Labour would be naive in the extreme to think that industry can absorb the cost of a price freeze, while at the same time making significant new investments,” Mr Atherton says. “Even if Labour don’t win the election, it will stop anyone making any decisions. It kills investment stone dead.”
Telegraph 25th Sept 2013 read more »
The head of energy giant E.ON UK hit back at Ed Miliband over his radical energy price freeze plan and urged politicians to do their bit in bringing bills under control. Tony Cocker, chief executive of German-owned E.ON, said his company was doing everything in its power to help hard-up customers and urged the Labour leader to visit the business. But he said “successive governments” had fuelled the inflationary pressure on bills by “collecting taxes for different schemes” through household gas and electricity rates. He said: “All politicians, from all sides, need to acknowledge that fact. At a strike you could remove a large cost from energy bills simply by moving these costs to general taxation.”
Telegraph 25th Sept 2013 read more »
This is the breakdown of charges that made up a typical British Gas dual-fuel energy bill (£1,188) in 2012, according to Centrica. Of that £112 is the cost of environmental and social policies; £72 goes in tax; £49 is profit.
Telegraph 25th Sept 2013 read more »
SSE: Ed Miliband wants energy companies to freeze energy prices and not be part of the problem, but be part of the solution, to the cost of living debate. I too have a solution, but mine allows businesses to function sustainably, investment to keep coming and to knock around £100 off energy bills. In addition, it will generate savings for customers far sooner than 2015 and for far longer than 20 months – making a serious long term contribution to the cost of living. Here’s the alternative suggestion for Ed Miliband: why doesn’t Labour commit to removing the stealth taxes from customer bills? This would go further than a simple price freeze, It would immediately cut customers’ bills by over £100 a year, potentially rising to as much as £200 in the future.
Telegraph 25th Sept 2013 read more »
About £2 billion was wiped off the value of two of Britain’s biggest energy companies yesterday, as the City woke up to the full impact of Ed Miliband’s plan to freeze bills. Shares in Centrica and SSE, the country’s largest two remaining independent energy companies, slumped by more than 5 per cent, their biggest one-day falls in more than three years. Energy bosses broke cover to go on the offensive against the Labour leader, calling for an end to the green energy “stealth taxes” that they blame for rocketing bills. They said that expensive subsidies for wind farms and household energy-efficiency programmes should be funded from general taxation rather than levies on consumers.
Times 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Uranium
Russia has been supplying US nuclear power plants with fuel for a dumping price since 1995. But with the HEU-LEU agreement coming to an end, America’s nuclear power generation industry is likely to face a sharp fuel price surge and shortage.
Countercurrents 25th Sept 2013 read more »
World Nuclear
The world’s nuclear power generating capacity is projected to continue to grow, although at a slower pace, by 2030, a recent study by the International Atomic Energy Agency shows. The global nuclear watchdog’s annual publication, entitled “Energy, Electricity and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050,” was released with analysis from the IAEA’s energy planning experts.
RTT 25th Sept 2013 read more »
World Nuclear News 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Greek myth tells of the proud and arrogant king Sisyphus who, after trying to cheat death, was forced by the Gods to roll a giant boulder up a hill. When he reached the top of the hill, the boulder would roll back to the bottom and Sisyphus would have to begin again. For all eternity. The nuclear industry must know how he felt. Just when it thinks it’s getting somewhere, the industry finds itself back at square one. So much effort and futility for so little gain. And the nuclear boulders are thundering downhill once again all over the world.
Think of all the time, energy, money and resources squandered on nuclear power in the past, present and (if the industry gets its way) future. Imagine how all the time, energy, money and resources could have been and could be used. Energy saving programmes that would hugely reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Renewable energy solutions like wind and solar that can be deployed right now without waiting until 2020 or 2030 or whenever it is new nuclear reactors will be ready. Energy efficiency and renewables are much smaller and lighter boulders to move. They are much more easily rolled up hill and we can all lend a hand. The view from the top will be spectacular.
Greenpeace 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Japan
The ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant is a sign that the world needs to seriously rethink nuclear safety and consider possibly ending its dependence on atomic power, the former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday in Tokyo. “When you look at what happened around the Fukushima Daiichi (No. 1) area, it’s simply unacceptable,” as tens of thousands of people have been unable to return to their homes due to radioactive contamination, said Gregory Jaczko, who served as the top U.S. nuclear regulatory official for nearly three years until July 2012.
Japan Times 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Telegraph 25th Sept 2013 read more »
India
Indian utilities plan to use 23,000 acres of land to build the largest solar power plant in the world, at 4 gigawatts of power, bringing prices and production of solar energy closer to competitiveness with coal.
Climate Progress 24th Sept 2013 read more »
US
As the applications mount in the United States to build new nuclear plants, lessons will have to be learned over the licensing process, and how some of the procedures are harming construction development. Voices were raised at a recent NRC briefing that was attended by several major utility companies, who believe that unnecessary obstacles are being placed in front of them.
Nuclear Insider 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Iran
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said he wants to reach a deal over Iran’s nuclear programme within six months. He told the Washington Post: “The only way forward is for a timeline to be inserted into the negotiations that’s short. “The shorter it is, the more beneficial it is to everyone. If it’s three months that would be Iran’s choice, if it’s six months that’s still good. It’s a question of months not years.”
ITV 26th Sept 2013 read more »
BBC 26th Sept 2013 read more »
Guardian 26th Sept 2013 read more »
Britain and the other Western powers will today press Iran to “lay out its stall” on how it means to demonstrate finally that its nuclear enrichment efforts are not directed towards developing an atomic weapon, with a minimum expectation it will accept an early start date for a new round of negotiations, a Western diplomat said.
Independent 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Trident
Letter David Lowry: Simon Jenkins makes a lot of sense in his destruction of the argument made by the three major political parties for retaining and renewing Trident.
Guardian 26th Sept 2013 read more »
Renewables
The politicians are wrong – 100% renewable energy is possible. If Miliband wants to beat the Big Six and deliver energy price freeze promise, he must fix his party’s broken policies first. While the government’s energy policies are in utter disarray, what Labour has on the table is hardly much better, and unlikely to support Miliband’s grand promises unless he backs his words with policy gumption. Although shadow chancellor Ed Balls gave a heart-warming speech to the Green Alliance this July promising to “end the current uncertainty” around renewables by putting low-carbon future at the centre of policy, this obfuscated the fact that Labour has not closed the door on fracking. Last December, shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint, said: “Fracking should only go ahead if it is shown to be safe and environmentally sound.” This was made even clearer by Tom Greatrex MP, Scottish Labour’s shadow energy minister, writing in the Guardian this Tuesday. In May this year, a report by the Committee on Climate Change found that investing in renewable energy, as opposed to a new ‘dash for gas’, would be the cheapest option for keeping the lights on while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Investing in renewable energy was the best option even if shale gas prices were relatively low. The report identified “a clear benefit in committing to invest in low-carbon generation over the next two decades”, rather than “an alternative strategy of investing in gas-fired generation through the 2020s and delaying investment in low-carbon technologies.” The fact is that a transition to a 100% renewable energy system in the UK, if not the world, is perfectly possible with the political will according to numerous studies. In 2010, the renewable energy company Good Energy mapped out a pathway for a 100% renewable energy future within the next four decades. The following year, this vision was vindicated by another report by independent energy consulting firm Ecofys, concluding that a global transition to a 100% renewable energy infrastructure was feasible by 2050 if combined with efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce waste. If Miliband wants to freeze energy prices in 2015, he needs to start by fixing Labour’s fundamentally broken energy policies first. Until then, his seemingly bold promise amounts to the same stale brand of empty rhetoric touted by the incompetent incumbents he opposes.
Guardian 25th September 2013 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Labour is to scrap the government’s flagship energy efficiency scheme if it wins the 2015 election, after dismissing the green deal as “failing” and its progress as “woefully inadequate”. “It was meant to be the biggest home improvement programme since world war two and ministers said they would be having sleepless nights if 10,000 people had not signed up by Christmas 2013,” said Caroline Flint, shadow energy secretary, noting that just 12 green deals had been completed. “They won’t be getting much shut eye.” The pledge to scrap the green deal follows Ed Miliband’s dramatic promise to freeze energy bills and break up the big six energy companies that dominate the UK market. The green deal aims to retrofit 14m of Britain’s leaky homes in the next decade, by offering loans for measures such as insulation and new boilers, with repayments offset by the energy bill savings.
Guardian 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
The Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, defended her right to peacefully protest on Wednesday after it was announced she faced criminal charges over her part in an anti-fracking demonstration in Sussex. Lucas spoke after the Crown Prosecution Service said it had carefully examined the evidence and decided it was in the public interest to charge the MP for obstructing the highway and failing to comply with a police request to move.
Guardian 25th Sept 2013 read more »
