Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
Government aims to have the lowest energy costs in Europe
Professor Dieter Helm has been appointed to lead the cost of energy review promised in the Conservative manifesto and Industrial Strategy, business and energy secretary Greg Clark announced today (Sunday August 6).
Helm, who last year called on Clark to “reset the balance between the market and the state”, will be joined by a panel of experts including former National Grid executive director Nick Winser and former Conservative MP Laura Sandys.
He has been asked to review the entire electricity supply chain of generation, transmission, distribution and supply, in light of the government’s ambition to have the lowest energy costs in Europe.
Helm, who has previously criticised the cost of renewable power, claimed in a recent paper that “intervention on energy tariffs is needed.” His appointment follows the news last week that British Gas is hiking its electricity prices by 12.5 per cent.
The cost of energy review, which reports back in October, will consider the implications of the changing demand for electricity, including the role of technologies such as electric vehicles, storage, robotics and artificial intelligence.
Clark said: “The review will consider how we can take advantage of changes to our power system and new technologies to ensure clean, secure and affordable supplies over the coming decades. Professor Helm will bring invaluable expertise to the review, and I look forward to seeing his recommendations.”
Professor Helm said: “My review will be independent and sort out the facts from the myths about the cost of energy, and make recommendations about how to more effectively achieve the overall objectives.”
The full panel, chaired by Helm, will include: Terry Scuoler, chief executive of EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation; Nick Winser, now chairman of the Energy Systems Catapult; Laura Sandys, now chief executive of Challenging Ideas; Isobel Sheldon, engineering & technology director of Johnson Matthey Battery Systems; and Richard Nourse, managing partner of Greencoat Capital LLP.
Last September, Helm called on Clark to develop a comprehensive energy policy, saying: “The current state of the energy sector is sufficiently serious to merit rapid action. He cannot engage in the luxury of reviews and reports. He needs to act.”
Please login or Register to leave a comment.