Energy Prices
Ed Miliband used his boldest and most populist speech as Labour leader on Tuesday to announce that he would freeze gas and electricity bills for 20 months if he wins the election, prompting claims by the big six energy firms that such price fixing would lead to California-style energy blackouts and stall investment in new power stations. In an emblematic policy designed to show he will fight to protect voters’ living standards, Miliband told his party’s conference in Brighton that he would “reset” the failing energy market. He insisted that the profiteering energy firms could absorb the £4.5bn costs of a freeze. The party cited figures showing consumers had paid £3.9bn over the odds since 2010.
Guardian 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Independent 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Telegraph 24th Sept 2013 read more »
When he was energy secretary, Ed Miliband warned that nothing could stop rising household gas and electricity bills. “There is no low-cost energy future,” he said. But four years on the Labour leader has decided not to accept this premise as an inevitability. He told Labour’s conference that his government would simply order companies to freeze their prices until 2017. The announcement, potentially saving each household £120 a year, comes amid speculation that the big six energy companies are once again planning to put up tariffs for winter. Freezing prices appears to be a simple remedy but Labour is likely to face an almighty battle with the energy companies if the party wins power in 2015. Unsurprisingly, the companies deny all charges that they make excess profits and claim they are unfairly targeted by politicians. They argue higher international gas prices and green taxes are to blame for inflation-busting increases in bills, which simply reflect the higher costs of supply. They also insist those profits are crucial if the government wants them to help keep the lights on by investing £100bn in gas plants, nuclear power, pylons, wind farms and other energy infrastructure.
Guardian 24th Sept 2013 read more »
The freeze on energy prices from 2015 to January 2017 provided the speech’s big untrailed moment, going to the heart of what the Labour leader sees as a national crisis over living costs and corporate profiteering. It is probably the sort of pledge that Mr Miliband would have preferred to keep under wraps but was forced to reveal because of his poor poll ratings. But it is a thoroughly healthy political move to confront energy market manipulation. If the opposition leader has sparked an electoral bidding war on utility costs, then so much the better.
Guardian 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Labour proposals to freeze power prices until 2017 would deter urgently-needed investment in Britain’s energy sector, ministers and industry experts have warned. Michael Fallon, energy minister, said the “ill-thought out and irresponsible” measures would make it harder to raise the £110bn of capital required in the next 10 years to modernise energy infrastructure. Peter Atherton, utilities analyst at Liberum Capital, said: “The last thing the industry needs is another round of huge institutional changes. The ink won’t be dry on the energy bill and they’ll be scrapping the market.” “Capping their profits will make it harder for them to invest in nuclear and clean energy,” said Craig Lowrey of the Utilities Exchange, an energy consultancy. “That in turn will make it harder for Britain to meet its targets for reducing carbon emissions and sourcing more of its energy from renewables.” One energy banker said the price cap could hit the big six suppliers hard. “What if there’s a spike in the price of gas on the wholesale market, and they can’t pass that on to their customers?” he said. “It could be a disaster for them.”
FT 24th Sept 2013 read more »
“We economists don’t know much, but we do know how to create a shortage. If you want to create a shortage of tomatoes, for example, just pass a law that retailers can’t sell tomatoes for more than two cents per pound. Instantly you’ll have a tomato shortage. It’s the same with oil or gas.”
Telegraph 24th Sept 2013 read more »
A promise by Ed Miliband to freeze gas and electricity bills provoked warnings last night of blackouts, job losses and a threat by one leading energy company to leave Britain.
Times 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Ed Miliband’s aides welcomed the prospect of a sustained row with the energy industry yesterday amid warnings that his plan would threaten investment in a new generation of power plans — and prompt a rise in prices just before the 2015 election. Green groups also warned that the announcement could put renewable energy targets at risk. “How can Labour square a major reform of the consumer energy market and a freeze on energy bills with the urgent need for investment in new low carbon generation?” said the Renewable Energy Association, which represents wind farms.
Times 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Labour leader also outlines plans to freeze electricity bills to 2017 if the party wins the next election, drawing ire from energy companies. Ed Miliband promised a million green jobs would be created through decarbonising the UK’s power sector by 2030 and announced plans to freeze electricity bills to 2017 in a rousing speech at the Labour party conference today. Miliband went on to attack energy companies’ profiteering, promising to freeze electricity bills to 2017, potentially saving households an average of £120 and businesses £1,800 over 20 months, and replace Ofgem with a tough new regulator afforded powers to challenge companies and keep energy prices down. Miliband promised the new regulator would be “on the customer’s side, but also deliver the investment we need” in a new power sector. His words echoed those of Caroline Flint, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, who earlier in the day had pledged a future Labour government would implement “the most radical, comprehensive reforms since energy privatisation” by ensuring energy companies trade electricity in a single, open market and breaking up the Big Six.
Business Green 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Energy Minister Greg Barker has laid into proposals for an energy price “freeze” put forward by Labour’s Ed Miliband yesterday by claiming it would mean a “nuclear winter” for investment in Britain.
Energy Live News 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Ed Miliband’s headline grabbing pledge to freeze energy prices until 2017 must mean the cancellation of the planned increase in the ‘carbon floor price’ brought in by the Coalition Government. The carbon floor price, is set to increase sharply. The carbon floor price, a Treasury tax that keeps up carbon prices in the UK, effectively pushes up electricity prices because the increased price of carbon allowances (associated with the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) makes electricity from gas and especially coal more expensive. According to the Government’s plans it will increase prices significantly by the likely general election date in 2015. But it is set to increase thereafter as well. If Ed wants to freeze electricity prices he will have little alternative but to cancel the proposed increase.
Dave Toke’s Blog 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Nick Butler: Ed Miliband’s comments on energy in his Labour party conference speech on Tuesday have profound implications for policy. The immediate focus will be on the suggestion of a price freeze lasting until 2017. The industry will no doubt focus on the implications of cutting profits and the question of what happens if world prices rise. Some might also suggest that a hard freeze will not only deter new investment, but also lead to some companies exiting the business with the net effect of reducing competition. Mr Miliband clearly believes there is profiteering but he has not published the evidence. The Labour leader should and there needs to be a full competition inquiry. It may well be that if there is profiteering a price freeze is not the only nor the best solution. The real reason behind price increases is the enforced shift of the energy mix in favour of expensive renewables. Every electricity bill indicates the extra charge. The policy was begun under the previous Labour government and has been accelerated since 2010 in order to meet targets for emissions reduction. The policy is hardly a secret and was supported by all parties at the last general election. The focus on prices challenges this policy priority. Big decisions are coming up particularly on wind and nuclear power that would lock the UK consumer into expensive energy supplies for decades to come. If the priority is to reduce emissions that is essential and unavoidable – even with a good dose of efficiency gains there is no way of cutting emissions without shifting the energy mix away from coal and gas. The process has started but has a long way to go. Energy bills will keep rising.
FT 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Britain’s biggest energy supplier Centrica has claimed it could not “continue to operate” if Labour’s price freeze were implemented while costs are rising.
Telegraph 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Miliband’s flagship policy announced in Tuesday’s conference speech to freeze gas and electricity prices was populist politics, but it is crazy economics, which, if imposed, will end up doing a great deal of damage to these shores. The likelihood is he’ll be forced to drop it before the election because one of the main factors driving up energy prices is the Government’s own green agenda, which Miliband was largely responsible for during his period as energy secretary. Nobody is going to invest in energy renewal – whether green, nuclear or old-fashioned hydrocarbon – as long as there is the threat of price controls. One could argue that energy prices were, until recently, controlled by Ofgem, the energy regulator, but in setting these controls the regulator was obliged to allow a reasonable rate of return. It is arguable that prices were set too low to incentivise necessary investment in replacement generating capacity – which is why we are now facing a shortfall as ageing nuclear and coal plants are retired – yet Miliband’s proposal doesn’t even pay lip service to the idea of fair rate of return.
Telegraph 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Industry Reaction.
Telegraph 24th Sept 2013 read more »
NuGen
The British government is considering holding a new auction for a piece of land earmarked for construction of a nuclear plant after current owner NuGen has failed to make any progress, industry sources said. The NuGen joint venture between France’s GDF Suez and Spain’s Iberdrola struck a deal to buy the site at Sellafield in Cumbria in 2009, signing an option agreement with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and committing to reach a certain level of progress by a deadline. The joint venture plans to build up to 3.6 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity at the site, which it has named Moorside. Frustrated by the delay at Sellafield, the government is considering its options for the site as it pushes through an ambitious nuclear new-build programme, which is needed to replace ageing reactors. NuGen partner Iberdrola is in talks with Toshiba’s Westinghouse unit to take over its 50 percent stake in the joint venture, a deal that could rejuvenate the project. The Sellafield property, if reopened for auction, is likely to attract strong interest as a cheap option for investors to secure a British nuclear new-build site.
Reuters 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Radwaste
ANTI-NUCLEAR campaigners are boycotting a government consultation into a massive underground nuclear storage facility in Cumbria. Radiation Free Lakeland has hit out at the Department of Energy and Climate Change after it revealed plans last week for a new siting process for a geological disposal facility. The pressure group has circulated a letter to Cumbrian parish councils calling for them to object to the consultation, which would see the decision on whether a community should show an interest in hosting the facility, taken at a borough council level rather than at a county level. Marianne Birkby, of Radiation Free Lakeland, said that the group would not be responding to the national consultation and will be “boycotting” it in protest at Cumbria being “once again in the frame”.
NW Evening Mail 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Bradwell
Campaigners have hit out at proposals to dump waste from the decommissioning process at Bradwell nuclear power station into the sea off the north Essex coast. Members of the Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group (BANNG) recently held a protest meeting to highlight the dangers of the fuel element dissolution (FED) process, which they say will result in unnecessary discharges of radioactive liquid being poured into the Blackwater Estuary, causing harm to people and the environment. FED, which is part of the decommissioning process of the Bradwell plant, involves dissolving metal that was used to hold the fuel rods in acid to reduce and capture radioactive material. A liquid effluent is produced, which it is proposed should be discharged at sea.
East Anglian Daily Times 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Protest
Despite having performed gigs from Cardiff to Japan, Welsh musician Cian Ciarán is confident that playing atop a wind turbine will be the most unusual location so far. On Wednesday night, the Super Furry Animals’ keyboardist will perform his new solo album to an audience of seven people crowded on to the viewing platform of the 67m-tall turbine in Swaffham, Norfolk, in protest at the UK’s plans for new nuclear power and in support of renewable energy.
Guardian 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Damian McBride’s publisher in on-air scuffle with anti-nuclear protester.
Guardian 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Telegraph 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Daily Mail 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Japan
Fukushima Crisis update 20th to 23rd September. Backlash from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent statement that the Fukushima nuclear disaster is “under control” is on the rise, as municipal leaders from the town of Namie, as well as Tokyo’s Governor Naoki Inose, slammed his assertions this week. Abe spoke on September 7 from Buenos Aires, where he was trying to convince members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to award hosting rights for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games to Tokyo. The city eventually won that honor, beating out both Madrid and Istanbul. However, the statement has incensed local politicians, who say that it’s patently untrue.
Greenpeace 24th September 2013 read more »
Leaks of contaminated water at the crippled nuclear plant have worsened because Japan has acted too slowly, a former US nuclear regulatory chief claims. US and Japanese officials knew that leaks would occur when massive amounts of water were used to cool molten reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant after a major tsunami hit in March 2011, said Gregory Jaczko, adding that he was surprised how long it took Japan to start tackling the problem.
Sky News 24th Sept 2013 read more »
US
A string of plant closures, project cancellations and other setbacks has raised new doubts about the future of nuclear power in the United States, but there’s disagreement about whether the retrenchment will be limited and temporary or the beginning of a broad and permanent decline. Renewed safety concerns and reinvigorated local opposition have played a role in the industry’s recent troubles. But the most potent foe—and the primary force behind the spate of closures and abandoned projects—is economic.
Guardian 24th Sept 2013 read more »
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) racked up $16 billion in cost overruns on 10 major projects that are a combined 38 years behind schedule, according to reports from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The runaway costs are the result of years of lax accountability and nearly automatic annual budget increases. For example: At Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, a 7-year, $213 million upgrade to the security system that protects the lab’s most sensitive nuclear bomb-making facilities doesn’t work. In Tennessee, the price tag for a new uranium processing facility has grown nearly sevenfold to upwards of $6 billion because of problems that include a redesign to raise the roof.
World Mag 23rd Sept 2013 read more »
Iran
Binyamin Netanyahu writes off Iran president’s nuclear speech as a ploy. Israeli prime minister says the world should not be taken in by Hassan Rouhani’s less confrontational approach at the UN.
Guardian 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Iran’s new president held open the possibility of negotiations on his country’s disputed nuclear programme and talks with the United States in his first speech on the world stage.
Evening Standard 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has told the UN general assembly that nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction have no place in Iran’s security and defence doctrine.
ITV 25th Sept 2013 read more »
President Barack Obama told world leaders today that America is ready to open diplomatic talks with Iran over nuclear weapons. Addressing the annual summit of the United Nations, Mr Obama said he was ready to meet Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.
Mirror 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Germany
Together with the Federal election on 22 September 2013, the citizens of Hamburg were asked to vote in a referendum whether the City of Hamburg should remunicipalise in total the distribution grids for electricity, gas and district heating. A narrow majority of 50.9% voted in favour. Social Democrat mayor Olaf Scholz vowed to accept the vote. The city of Hamburg presently holds shares of 25.1% each in the three networks.
German Energy Blog 24th Sept 2013 read more »
France
THE French government is planning to introduce a carbon tax and nuclear levy next year, with the aim of funding a massive renewables and energy efficiency drive. In a speech, prime minister Jean-Marc Ayraut said that both measures would be introduced into the 2014 budget. He claimed that by 2015 the carbon tax alone would be raising €2.5bn/y (US$3.4bn), increasing to €4bn/y by the following year. The money it raises will be spent on projects designed to cut France’s fossil fuel use by 30% by 2030, as well as a tax break on home insulation.
Chemical Engineer 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Tom Greatrix: Taken together with George Osborne’s statements about “cheap” gas, the chancellor’s conference speech trumpeting tax breaks for the industry and the energy minister’s pledge to make it “easier” for fracking to happen, Boris’ comments form part of a Tory campaign to present shale gas as an abundant, immediately available, cheap source of energy that solves all of our problems. By simplistically extrapolating from the experience of the US, they have created a false prospectus about a controversial technology instead of providing the rational, evidence-led debate that is required. In March 2012, as Labour energy spokesman, I set out six clear regulatory conditions that should be met prior to any extraction taking place. Robust regulation and comprehensive monitoring are the pre-requisites in addressing those legitimate and deeply-held concerns while also, as former UK scientific adviser Sir David King put it, laying to rest the “big scares” of earthquakes and water contamination. Labour is clear that we will need to have a balanced energy mix for the future – that mix should be as low carbon as possible without endangering our energy security. It should prioritise the development of predictable renewable technologies and carbon capture and storage. It should be designed with the aim of maximising the amount of growth and jobs we can secure for the UK to help rebalance the economy geographically as well as by sector.
Guardian 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Russia has opened a criminal case against Greenpeace activists who boarded an Arctic oil rig belonging to energy giant Gazprom, and says it plans to charge them all with piracy, regardless of their nationality. If convicted, they could face up to 15 years in a Russian prison.
Guardian 24th Sept 2013 read more »
Times 25th Sept 2013 read more »
Climate
It would be “absurd” to claim the risks of climate change are small, economic expert Lord Stern said before the publication of a key scientific report on global warming. The latest international assessment of climate science makes it crystal clear the risks are “immense”, and it would be extraordinary and unscientific to ignore the evidence and argue for a delay in addressing the problem, he said.
Guardian 24th Sept 2013 read more »
The United Nations IPCC report on climate change will present such compelling scientific evidence that humans are responsible for global warming that governments around the world will respond by introducing ambitious legally-binding targets to reduce their carbon emissions, Lord Stern predicts.
Independent 24th Sept 2013 read more »
