Tories pledge no new green levies

The Conservatives have pledged to rule out creating further green levies, backed zonal electricity market pricing and promised to examine introducing a new presumption in favour of undergrounding new transmission cables.

The party’s manifesto for the general election maintains the direction of travel set by prime minister Rishi Sunak last autumn in favour of a more “pragmatic” approach to cutting emissions.

Launched at Silverstone racing track in Northamptonshire on Tuesday (11 June), the manifesto guarantees that there will be no new green levies or charges if the Tories win July’s election.

And it says a Conservative government would ensure the annual policy costs and levies on household energy bills are lower in each year of the next Parliament than they were in 2023 to reflect how the cost of renewables such as wind and solar have dramatically fallen.

The manifesto says a freshly elected Conservative government would undertake a “rapid review” into alternative network technologies to overhead pylons which would consider moving to a presumption in favour of undergrounding cables where cost competitive.

The party also pledges to introduce more efficient local markets for electricity, which appears to be a nod to the zonal locational market pricing proposals being considered as part of the review of electricity market arrangements (REMA).

It says expert analysis estimates these local power market reforms would save households £20 to £45 per annum, which is the same figure cited in REMA for the consumer benefits that zonal pricing would deliver.

The Conservatives say they would approve two new fleets of Small Modular Reactors within the first 100 days of the next Parliament.

And they pledge to halve the time it takes for approving new nuclear reactors by allowing regulators to assess projects while designs are being finalised and work more closely with their overseas counterparts vetting the same technology, as well as speeding up planning and environmental approvals.

On water, the manifesto pledges to reform the sector’s price review regulatory process.

This exercise will consider how to move to a more localised catchment-based and outcome-focussed approach that better uses nature-based solutions and further “strengthens sanctions for water companies that fail to deliver for the public, coasts and rivers”.

On broader efforts to tackle net zero, the manifesto says the Tories would guarantee a Parliamentary vote on the next stage of the UK’s emissions reduction pathway.

The adoption of any new target, which would be outlined in the carbon budgets recommended by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), should be accompanied by “proper consideration of the plans and policies required to meet the target”.

The move is designed to maintain democratic consent for decisions on net zero, one of the stated goals set out by Sunak in last September’s Downing Street announcement resetting the government’s climate change policy.

The manifesto pledges to reform the CCC by giving it an “explicit mandate” to consider cost to households and UK energy security when preparing its future climate advice.

Other moves promised in the manifesto include maintaining the energy price cap and funding an energy efficiency voucher scheme, for which every household in England would be eligible, to support the installation of insulation and solar panels.

Responding to the manifesto, Good Energy chief executive Nigel Pocklington said the Conservatives’ proposals are “not surprising” but “disappointing” nevertheless.

“They say they want to cut costs and reduce burden on households but fail to clearly explain how a Conservative government would achieve the one thing that would truly do this for the long term. Unlocking abundant home grown, cheap renewables to power our country, unleashing us from global fossil fuel markets.”

Leo Mercer, policy analyst at the London School of Economics’ Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said: “Compared to the 2019 manifesto this disappointing document shows a lack of ambition and vision, even if they have restated their commitment to net zero by 2050. This manifesto does not provide a credible set of policies that will deliver on either net zero or climate resilience.”

Yesterday the Liberal Democrats released their manifesto for the forthcoming election, which included a vow to scrap Ofwat and replace it with “a tough new regulator” as part of a promise to take a “strong” stance against sewage pollution.