NEW Climate Change Committee boss Emma Pinchbeck wants policy costs taken out of UK energy bills in a cynical bid to hide from the public the soaring costs of supporting renewables.
This is just the latest legerdemain from the climate ‘crisis’ crowd who mindlessly orate that energy will become greener and cheaper under their watch.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Our energy bills are now the highest in Europe (1) and our energy security more fragile than at any time since the beginning of the fossil fuel era.
This is purely a result of their slavish adherence to the Net Zero lunacy.
Last week the media widely reported how the UK was paying gas-fired power plants some £2m an hour to fire-up and support the peak evening UK demand period (2).
This followed Pinchbeck trumpeting on Radio 4 how wind had the largest share of UK electricity generation ever recorded in 2024, even more than gas.
The preference given to the so-called renewables in the hierarchy of energy supply is the sole reason why we have to pay so much to fire-up our gas generators. That’s purely the way the system has been gamed.
When the wind blows and the sun shines this electricity, albeit expensive, flows - although sometimes the suppliers are paid to turn it off, if demand slumps. When it does not blow we turn to gas or energy imports and the prices soar in a seller’s market.
If the UK had a free market in electricity delivery then we would have little or no wind and solar power. We would be powered mainly by gas, and that could be cheap gas as in the US where domestic gas-fuelled electricity is priced at £20 to £40 per MW/h - much cheaper than renewables.
The latest round of subsidies for offshore wind came in at £73 per MW/h the UK and for floating wind, which is favoured by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, it was £176 per MW/h.
One of the great lies of the renewable energy acolytes is that so-called ‘clean’ energy is cheap, it is complete nonsense, in 2023 alone we subsidised these renewables to the tune of £10bn through our energy bills (3).
The renewable lobby - living essentially off a state-subsidised, gravy train - are intent on promoting these useless electricity-delivery mechanisms in the quest for Net Zero.
Net Zero electricity by 2030 is technically and financially impossible, achieving net Zero at anytime will essentially spell the end of energy security for the UK.
Last week, when the temperature plummeted below zero UK energy demand was 46GW, we have installed 31GW of wind and its total supply was just 2.5GW, the 20GW of Solar produced zero.
With gas, nuclear, biomass and subsea continental connectors powering homes and businesses the spare capacity for the grid dipped to 500MW - a worryingly low 5% system margin.
Ten years ago, the environmental and network operating components of a UK domestic duel fuel bill were around £400 a year, this has now almost doubled and will continue to rise further.
The total cost of achieving Net Zero will run into several trillions of pounds.
And, what does this Net Zero future look like - it means blackouts on cold, windless day like we have just experienced.
And, at a time when the Government has slashed winter fuel payments to pensioners, then, sadly more deaths, and the over 65s will not be the only ones who can’t afford to heat their homes.
What the UK needs is secure and cheap electricity not only for domestic consumers but also for business and industry. With energy being the juice for all economic activity boosting domestic supply will lower prices and help drag Britain out of the economic doldrums.
There is zero chance of this happening on the ridiculously expensive Net Zero bandwagon. No wonder of Climate Change Committee want to hide the true cost to the public.
There is only one way to end this obsession with Net Zero and that is to completely to bin it in favour of the goal of Zero Energy Poverty, which is what is about to happen in the US under incoming President Donald Trump.
More on Zero Energy Poverty to follow in the next essay
1 https://iea.org.uk/were-number-one-in-unaffordable-electricity/#
2 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/08/electricity-bills-gas-wind-power-weather-freezing-cold/
3 https://x.com/7Kiwi/status/1857347433904083265
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