THE chair of GB Energy has been grilled by MPs over plans for the new publicly-owned company and whether it will bring down energy bills.
Professor Juergen Maier was grilled by MPs during the committee stage of the Great British Energy Bill on Tuesday, alongside Mika Minio-Paluello, policy officer for industry and climate at the Trades Union Congress, and Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect.
Maier told MPs the price of energy was not in the “scope of the bill” after being asked by SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn when he expected GB Energy to “bring down energy bills”.
It comes after the Prime Minister previously said the company would help “create good jobs and cut people’s bills”.
During the election, Keir Starmer said the new body would collaborate with councils, communities and the private sector to bring down energy costs.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves also reiterated Labour's pledge to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030 during the election. She said the party would save families up to £300 per year off their energy bills, boost the UK’s energy independence, and create 650,000 good jobs.
Speaking in Westminster, Maier said: “Well look, the only way to get energy bills down and indeed to get greater energy security is to get more renewable energy onto the grid.
“We do have to keep reminding people that the reason why energy bills went up wasn't because of renewable energy. It was because of a global oil and gas price crisis.
NEW: The chair of GB Energy has failed to say when or if the new state-owned company will bring down energy bills It comes after the Prime Minister previously said the company would help "cut people's bills" pic.twitter.com/9j8IzwedOl
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“So therefore, every megawatt, every gigawatt of renewable energy that we will put on the grid will help bring bills and prices down. The exact mechanism by that happens is, of course, a matter of policy, how you decide to bring those bills to the consumer, and that is not the scope of great British energy and is not scope of the bill either.”
Flynn also asked for clarity on how many jobs and what kind of jobs would be created in Aberdeen at the new HQ for GB Energy.
Maier responded: “We haven’t obviously been able to put a direct number on it yet. It will be in the hundreds; it may eventually be a thousand or more in the HQ.”
He added that the jobs will focus on work with supply chains and the private sector, working towards enabling offshore wind in the northeast of Scotland.
Maier also told the committee that by the end of the decade, there will be 100,000 people employed in offshore wind.
