The ink isn’t dry on the government’s low carbon transition plan, and already the whingeing has begun. The talkshows are buzzing with complaints about the impact on energy prices. Some punters suggest that this will be the end of life as we know it: the government’s plans will wreck the economy and bankrupt struggling families.
There’s no doubt that fuel poverty remains an important issue in this country. It still accelerates the deaths of elderly people every winter. Being able to maintain your home at a habitable temperature is a basic human right. But the new plans will make no appreciable difference.
According to the government, the impact of all its climate change policies – old and new – will be to add an average of £92 (or 8%) to household bills between now and 2020. Does that sound like the end of life as we know it? If so, you have a short memory.
Between November 2004 and November 2005, the average wholesale price of electricity rose from 2.1 pence to 3.6 pence – by 71%. In the 12 months to February 2006, the wholesale price of natural gas in the United Kingdom rose by 75%. In the three years to that date, it rose from under 20p a therm to 70p – an increase of 350%.
Wholesale prices don’t translate directly into retail prices – the hit for householders wasn’t quite as great as that – but you get the general idea. The rate by which the wholesale price of gas rose between 2003 and 2006 was 160 times greater than the rate of increase in retail fuel prices likely to be caused by the government’s climate change programmes. Compared to the wild fluctuations in energy prices caused by geopolitics and resource constraints, this increase will be scarcely detectable. The signal generating such angst today will be lost in the noise.
Did the price rise of 2003-2006 cause the economy to collapse? No. That was achieved by other means. It made life harder for some people. The government sought to address this with its winter fuel allowance, and today it proposes to create “mandated social price support”, mostly focused on older pensioners on the lowest incomes. I don’t know whether this is sufficient to eliminate fuel poverty. We should keep pressing the government to ensure that it is.
But let’s get this straight: fuel poverty and the climate change programme have very little to do with each other, except inasmuch as government intends to help us insulate our homes, which means we’ll need less fuel to heat them. As the secretary of state Ed Miliband pointed out on the Today programme this morning, failing to replace our energy supplies will also raise prices: fossil fuels will become more expensive as a result of rising demand in China and India.
There is, however, a government policy, or absence of policy, which does threaten both to exacerbate fuel poverty and accelerate economic collapse: its flat refusal to make contingency plans for the possibility that global supplies of oil (and, presumably, gas) will one day peak. Peak oil and gas will wreck more than the government’s plans for eliminating hypothermia: it will make all current economic and environmental planning redundant. Yet, in the 228 pages of today’s white paper about our future energy supplies, you won’t find a word about it.
Source - The Guardian
Showing posts with label energy prices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label energy prices. Show all posts
Friday, 17 July 2009
Saturday, 3 May 2008
20-35% energy price rises predicted for summer 2008
Sadly gas and electricity price hikes of 20-35% are predicted for Summer/Autumn. If so, grabbing a price capped tariff now should save you cash; though the cheapest capped tariffs cost 10%ish more than the current cheapest uncapped tariffs. For those with finances on the brink, hedge towards capping as it provides surety. Of course you could wait, but when price rises start, caps disappear quickly; so it’s a balance.
This comes at a time when engineers, trade unions, farmers and house builders today backed a campaign by Friends of the Earth and the Renewable Energy Association to introduce a “feed-in tariff” system that would improve Britain’s take-up of renewable energy.
Ahead of a crucial House of Commons vote on Wednesday, which aims to add a feed-in tariff to the energy bill currently going through parliament, organisations such as the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the House Builders Federation , the TUC and the National Farmer’s Union said they wanted to see a feed-in tariff (FIT).
FITs have been introduced in nearly 50 countries around the world, starting with Germany which has massively increased the roll-out of technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, ground-source heat pumps both at the domestic and industrial levels.
FITs work by setting a guaranteed price for renewable electricity fed into the national grid that is above the market price. The countries which have adopted one have made big carbon savings and created thousands of new jobs. Britain, though, lags behind almost every EU country in its use of renewables, producing just 2% of its energy in this way.
Pop star Lily Allen and her solar-power recording studio, the Premises, have emailed MPs urging them to vote for the measure on Wednesday.
“Having worked at the Premises solar powered recording studio I have experienced how clean and green renewable energy is. I fully support giving people a renewable energy reward for the power they generate. It’s good to be green!” said Allen.
REA and Friends of the Earth also have the support of major UK energy academics including Dr Terry Barker, a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 4th assessment report last year.
REA director Philip Wolfe said: “The government does not seem to comprehend the urgency of climate change. We need immediate action to rapidly change the way we generate and utilise energy. The renewables industry is heartened by the huge groundswell of support for our sector and we strongly urge the government to take note and to act on this in the energy bill.”
The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, added: The TUC believes that without measures such as the Renewable Energy tariff, the UK will not only be left behind in the drive to cut emissions but will fail to be a competitor in the global market for renewable energy which obviously has huge potential over the next decade.”
Friends of the Earth said Britain’s performance on renewable energy was a “national disgrace”.
“If we want families and businesses to tackle climate change by investing in clean technologies such as solar panels for their homes and offices then they must get a strong financial incentive,” said energy campaigner Dave Timms.
“It is vital that the energy bill is amended to include legislation for a feed-in tariff. It is a proven and cost-effective policy. Countries, such as Germany, who have adopted it have raced ahead in generating renewable energy while also creating the green jobs and low-carbon industries of the future.”
The energy bill amendment was introduced by the Labour MP, Alan Simpson. It is supported by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat front benches. Over 100 Labour MPs have signed a parliamentary motion calling for the bill to be amended to include a feed-in tariff.
Source - Guardian
This comes at a time when engineers, trade unions, farmers and house builders today backed a campaign by Friends of the Earth and the Renewable Energy Association to introduce a “feed-in tariff” system that would improve Britain’s take-up of renewable energy.
Ahead of a crucial House of Commons vote on Wednesday, which aims to add a feed-in tariff to the energy bill currently going through parliament, organisations such as the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the House Builders Federation , the TUC and the National Farmer’s Union said they wanted to see a feed-in tariff (FIT).
FITs have been introduced in nearly 50 countries around the world, starting with Germany which has massively increased the roll-out of technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, ground-source heat pumps both at the domestic and industrial levels.
FITs work by setting a guaranteed price for renewable electricity fed into the national grid that is above the market price. The countries which have adopted one have made big carbon savings and created thousands of new jobs. Britain, though, lags behind almost every EU country in its use of renewables, producing just 2% of its energy in this way.
Pop star Lily Allen and her solar-power recording studio, the Premises, have emailed MPs urging them to vote for the measure on Wednesday.
“Having worked at the Premises solar powered recording studio I have experienced how clean and green renewable energy is. I fully support giving people a renewable energy reward for the power they generate. It’s good to be green!” said Allen.
REA and Friends of the Earth also have the support of major UK energy academics including Dr Terry Barker, a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 4th assessment report last year.
REA director Philip Wolfe said: “The government does not seem to comprehend the urgency of climate change. We need immediate action to rapidly change the way we generate and utilise energy. The renewables industry is heartened by the huge groundswell of support for our sector and we strongly urge the government to take note and to act on this in the energy bill.”
The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, added: The TUC believes that without measures such as the Renewable Energy tariff, the UK will not only be left behind in the drive to cut emissions but will fail to be a competitor in the global market for renewable energy which obviously has huge potential over the next decade.”
Friends of the Earth said Britain’s performance on renewable energy was a “national disgrace”.
“If we want families and businesses to tackle climate change by investing in clean technologies such as solar panels for their homes and offices then they must get a strong financial incentive,” said energy campaigner Dave Timms.
“It is vital that the energy bill is amended to include legislation for a feed-in tariff. It is a proven and cost-effective policy. Countries, such as Germany, who have adopted it have raced ahead in generating renewable energy while also creating the green jobs and low-carbon industries of the future.”
The energy bill amendment was introduced by the Labour MP, Alan Simpson. It is supported by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat front benches. Over 100 Labour MPs have signed a parliamentary motion calling for the bill to be amended to include a feed-in tariff.
Source - Guardian
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