Energy UK's chief executive has called on the UK Government to proceed “carefully” when putting a cap on how much revenue wind farms can make to avoid repeating past mistakes which put off investment in the UK.
The the energy trade body's boss Emma Pinchbeck also told a conference in London that banning cheap solar power would be a “false economy”.
“Cuts to green policies in 2015 have added to the cost of bills today,” she said at the Energy UK conference. “It seems scarcely believable to me that we would make the same mistakes again with, for example, reforms that make it harder or ban cheap solar power.
“False narratives often lead to false economies.”
Reports this week have suggested that the government could ban farmers from putting solar panels on their land.
Pinchbeck responded: “On which note it is also very important that the government proceeds carefully with the revenue cap on low carbon generators and other measures announced in the energy price Bill.”
On Tuesday, the UK Government announced that it would put a “cost-plus-revenue” limit on what some wind and solar farms in England and Wales could make, insisting that the policy is not a windfall tax - however industry figures say that it amounts to one.
Speaking after Pinchbeck, Climate Minister Graham Stuart said the country is facing a crisis and acknowledged not everything was down to the war in Ukraine.
“Long before [Russian President Vladimir] Putin launched his attack… it was clear that we needed to reform our energy system,” he told the audience.
Energy bills have soared in the last year, forcing the government to step in to cap the price that households have to pay for their electricity at 34p per unit and 10.4p per unit for gas.
For the average household this means they will pay around £2,500. However those that use more will pay more than that, and those who slash their use might end up with lower bills.
The average household is counted as one with 2.4 people in it.
Separately, Labour has pledged to ban fracking “once and for all” as it hit out at suggestions that the government could move to ban solar arrays from much of England’s farmland.
The party intends to work with MPs who oppose fracking to force the government to maintain the ban, one of several issues to divide the Conservatives since Liz Truss became leader.
The new administration’s environmental commitments have come under severe scrutiny in recent weeks after lifting England’s fracking ban, in place since 2019 following a series of earth tremors, and giving the green light to the expansion of oil and gas operations in the North Sea.
Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow climate secretary, will visit Bassetlaw today to meet with the party’s candidate Jo White and local residents to listen to concerns about the potential for fracking in their area.
Labour is working to bring forward an opposition day motion to maintain the current ban, Miliband is expected to tell locals during his visit.
In his speech to Labour’s party conference last month, Sir Keir Starmer promised to create a publicly-owned energy company to ensure energy security in the UK.
Miliband said: “Labour will stand with communities in opposing the Conservatives’ dodgy plans to impose expensive, dirty and dangerous fracking on the British people.
“Fracking would make no difference to energy prices, and could risk the health of local communities, nature, and water supplies.”
Hitting out at what he called Truss’s “unjust charter for earthquakes”, he said Labour would stand up to her plan to “outsource decisions about local consent to fracking companies”.
Some MPs have been clamouring for a vote on the controversial issue, while the government has insisted that future applications will be considered where there is local support, although it is not clear how that will be measured.
The 2019 Conservative manifesto pledged not to lift England’s moratorium unless “the science shows categorically it can be done safely”.
A government-commissioned report by the British Geological Survey suggested more data was needed, but despite the lack of scientific progress, Truss’ administration has torn up the manifesto commitment.
Miliband will also visit a solar farm, where he is expected to set out his party’s opposition to any plan that would block new solar projects.
Downing Street this week confirmed that Truss is opposed to the installation of panels on productive agricultural lands.
“If Liz Truss blocks solar power she will be declaring unilateral energy disarmament – undermining our energy security and forcing the British people to accept decades of higher energy bills,” Miliband added.
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