Britain paying highest electricity prices in the world as Net Zero costs rise
Cost of powering industry 63pc higher than France in blow to Miliband’s net zero targets
Ed Miliband’s net zero targets are facing fresh scrutiny after Britain was found to be paying the highest electricity prices in the developed world.
New data published on Tuesday showed the price paid by UK industry for power was 63pc higher than in France and 27pc higher than in Germany.
Britain is also the second-most expensive country in the world for household electricity, with billpayers paying twice as much as those in the US.
It came as Cornwall Insight also warned on Tuesday that household energy bills will jump by £100 in April.
The figures will increase pressure on the Energy Secretary, who has been accused of driving up electricity costs by adding green levies on to bills to fund renewables.
This includes billions of pounds in subsidies for carbon capture and wind farms, which have contributed to the UK paying the highest power prices in the world. Official figures on Tuesday had previously shown Britain had the highest prices of any country in 2023 as well, but on Tuesday that data was revised to show it was second place behind Slovakia.
On Tuesday, Steve Elliott, chief executive of the Chemical Industries Association lobby group, warned: “We are competing for investment with these countries and we won’t get it if the Government continues to load policy costs on bills.”
But Mr Miliband has argued that switching to clean energy will pay off in the long run by cutting Britain’s reliance on volatile gas prices.
He has also repeatedly stressed that net zero was not to blame for soaring prices.
[…]
However, his opponents dispute this and claim that Mr Miliband’s plan to switch Britain’s power system to 95pc clean energy by 2030 risks driving up prices even further.
Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, said Mr Miliband’s plan “will lock us all into higher prices for longer” and lead to “higher bills for families and businesses are on the way”.
Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, has also repeatedly lambasted “net stupid zero” and vowed to oppose “eco-zealot” Mr Miliband every step of the way.
He has vowed to use Reform-controlled councils to block planning applications for electricity infrastructure such as pylons.
The official figures published on Tuesday, which are produced by the International Energy Agency, showed that the average industrial electricity price in Britain hit 26.6p per kilowatt hour (kWh) in 2024, including taxes.
That was the highest figure of any developed country, compared to 16.3p in France, 21p in Germany and 23.5p in Italy.
Figures for the US were not published in the latest data, but figures for 2023 showed it was 6.5p per kWh.
Meanwhile, the picture was almost equally as bleak for households.
Britain was the second-highest for domestic electricity prices including tax, behind only Germany, at 30.45p per kWh.
In France, the equivalent price was 23.7p, while in the US it was 12.9p.
The data was released on the eve of the latest change in the price cap, which rose from £1720 to £1755 on October 1. Cornwall Insight has since forecast that this will fall to £1725 in January but jump by £100 in spring.
The Telegraph: continue reading
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