Millions of families will see their energy bills come down within five years as Britain switches to a green economy, Sir Keir Starmer pledged on Thursday.
He stressed that the new Government was acting at “pace” and taking “key decisions” early including on solar energy, onshore wind, and offshore windfarms to drive down bills and boost the UK’s security.
“I want to see those bills go down in this Parliament,” he said on a visit to a green energy factory in Runcorn, near Liverpool.
“We have made that pledge that is what we intend to do.
“It is really important because so many people have been hammered by their energy bills in the last few years.”
Labour’s election manifesto states: “We will save families hundreds of pounds on their bills, not just in the short term, but for good,” though it did not put a timetable on it.
The party’s election co-ordinator Pat McFadden was grilled before the July 4 poll on Labour claims that bills could be £300 lower due to the transition away from fossil fuels.
A very busy final Sunday show of the campaign ! Does Labour’s promise of 300 quid off energy bills stack up? https://t.co/OvK6woT8ZZ
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) June 30, 2024
Amid concerns in the gas and oil industry that many jobs could be put in jeopardy by the shift to a green economy, Sir Keir stressed that the move would protect energy posts for coming generations.
The Prime Minister seemed to make a more concrete pledge than Energy Security Secretary Ed Miliband who shied away from setting a timeline for when bills would come down.
The Cabinet minister announced that Britain’s newly created state-owned energy company, Great British Energy, is to partner with the monarchy’s property firm to help speed up the building of offshore wind farms.
The Crown Estate owns the vast majority of Britain’s seabed, stretching up to 12 nautical miles from the mainland, and leases parts of it to wind farm operators.
But Mr Miliband said “it’s going to take time” for GB Energy to start making money.
Legislation to establish the state-owned energy company needs to go through the House of Commons, and the Government has set aside £8.3 billion to invest in new wind farms and solar projects, which must get built before GB Energy can start generating a return, he told BBC Breakfast.
“Within the lifetime of this Parliament it will start generating returns,” he said.
However, he could not give a timeline for when people can expect their bills to go down.
“Within a couple of years, as we build new onshore wind, new solar, we’ll start to see the effect on bills, but there are lots of things going on here. So our exposure to gas prices, which are set internationally, is something I don’t control.
“In a sense, the whole point of what I’m saying is we’ve got to get off that lack of control where dictators like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin control the fossil fuel market, because I can’t promise you what’s going to happen to gas prices.
“But I can say that, if we drive to clean, homegrown British energy, we will have much more control over what happens to bills.”
Mr Miliband also criticised Just Stop Oil protest tactics as “disastrous” in the battle against global warming, arguing that the direct and disruptive action was alienating people from the green economy movement.
The Government said on Thursday that GB Energy will help develop future offshore wind projects, as part of its push to hasten the UK’s transition to renewable energy.
It is also designed to reduce the UK’s reliance on energy imported from other countries by generating more of its own electricity.
The Crown Estate estimates the partnership will lead to up to 20-30 gigawatts of new offshore wind developments being leased by 2030, enough to power almost 20 million homes.
GB Energy is set to lead energy projects through development stages to speed up the process, before returning them to private ownership but maintaining a stake.
It could, however, become an operator of such projects over time.
Leading the development of green power projects will come alongside GB Energy’s previously announced role of acting as a co-investor on schemes with private sector firms.
Officials will also look at how GB Energy could join forces with Great British Nuclear, a public body which helps bring forward new nuclear energy projects, and support local energy generation projects through partnerships with local councils.
