Energy must be core to Brexit plan

It is “essential” that energy is high on the agenda in the UK’s negotiations to leave the EU a business leader has said following the prime minister’s announcement that the UK will exit the European single market.

Prime minister Theresa May delivered a speech on Tuesday (17 January) clarifying that the UK will exit the single market in order to secure a “hard Brexit” deal for the UK.

May said that remaining within the single market was not possible. It would mean “not leaving the EU at all,” she insisted.

Responding to the announcement, Tanuja Randery, zone president for technology and engineering firm Schneider Electric and also a member of the CBI’s Energy and Climate Change Board, said that it is: “essential that energy remains high on the Brexit agenda as access to the single market is negotiated.”

She stressed: “The free-flow of energy across the EU offers the best possible chance of achieving our 2020 renewable energy targets, while ensuring security of supply for the consumer.”

Randery urged government to “make it clear how we will maintain some control over the rules that regulate our ability to freely compete,” once the UK is outside the single market.

Last year, National Grid also expressed its concerns about maintaining the “free flow” of energy across Europe as part of the UK’s Brexit deal. It said that the internal energy market currently brings benefits of around £500m per annum to UK consumers.

In an interview with Utility Week, National Grid chief executive John Pettigrew said he had “set out to government why we believe the internal energy market is beneficial to customers”.

However, he added that “we recognise that it is a broad negotiation” and that if the internal energy market cannot be maintained, it would be important to “make sure the right structures are in place so that we don’t inhibit the flow [of energy].”

Addressing these concerns, a spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the EU told Utility Week: “As the Prime Minister made clear, are leaving the EU, but we are not leaving Europe.

“We are seeking a bespoke arrangement for the EU that will allow the maximum freedom to trade with the EU. This ambition applies across the economy.”