THE boss of an energy company has said Scotland could have “the cheapest electricity in Europe” if the UK Government introduces regional pricing.
Speaking on the BBC’s flagship politics show Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson was asked for his verdict on Keir Starmer’s plans for the energy sector.
During the General Election campaign, the Labour Party leader announced that he would be setting up a company called Great British Energy (GB Energy).
After some initial confusion about what the company would do, Starmer confirmed that it would not actually produce any energy but instead jointly invest in projects alongside the private sector.
While the move was welcomed by Jackson, he said the biggest difference for consumers would be in reforming the market.
When asked whether Labour’s promise of delivering “clean power by 2030” was realistic, Jackson said it was “perfectly possible” but would need “rapid and focused action”.
“Seeing the government come out the starting blocks immediately announcing planning reform, authorising the building the solar farms, it’s a really good start,” he said.
NEW: The CEO of Octopus Energy Greg Jackson gave his verdict on the UK Government's plans for the energy sector on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. He said that with market reform and regional pricing "Scotland would have the cheapest electricity in Europe". pic.twitter.com/oWSmhbOaHU
— The National (@ScotNational) July 14, 2024
“I think there’s a couple of things we need to see now.
“First of all, it’s great that we can look forward to being able to build stuff but we also need to be able to connect it to the grid.
“Grid connections have ground to a halt in the UK. It needs really rapid action.
“There’s a solar farm we want to build in Country Durham. We get the grid connection in 2037.
“That means waiting 13 years for us to be able to invest, create the jobs in building that, but also for citizens to get cheaper power.
“And we also need to see market reform. If we had regional pricing in the UK for electricity, every region would be cheaper than it is now.
“Scotland would have the cheapest electricity in Europe.
“The UK could win investment from things like data centres and factories that need access to cheap power.
“That investment has being going abroad until now.”
It comes after Jackson made a similar appeal during an appearance at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change conference earlier this week.
He claimed that because of Scotland’s wealth of renewable energy infrastructure, a regional pricing scheme would allow some consumers to get “free electricity” at certain times.
