Household energy bills to rise under net zero grid overhaul
Network charges face a sharp increase under plan unveiled by regulator
JONATHAN LEAKE
Household energy bills will rise to pay for a net zero upgrade of Britain’s regional power grids, Ofgem has announced.
The energy regulator on Wednesday published plans for a massive expansion of the local distribution networks that deliver power the last few miles from the energy grid to homes and businesses.
The plans, to be undertaken between 2028-33, will be paid for by households through extra levies on their bills.
It means sharp increases in the average network charges that every home pays. These charges have already risen from £238 in 2019 to £372 today.
Steve McMahon, Ofgem director for network price controls, said: “If you look at the electricity system as a whole, we’ll need hundreds of billions of pounds in investment to build the capabilities needed to run a clean power system and decarbonise the economy.”
The planned expansion of regional power grids will help the networks cope with the enormous increase in capacity that will be needed as the UK moves from using gas for heating to electricity, requiring much more to be transmitted.
The scale of the challenge is huge. Last year the UK consumed about 320 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity, but by 2050 the move to heat pumps, electric vehicles and similar new systems could double consumption to about 700GWh.
Mr McMahon said: “There’s no way of getting around the fact that you need to invest, and you need to invest at levels that we’ve not seen in a generation.”
He said it was “too early to say” what the exact impact on bills would be. “We’ve not made any promises about how that would look over time but if you look at the bill and its totality, then we’re moving towards something that the investment will pay for itself, we would hope, over time.” […] The distribution companies’ total income from consumer bills has not been published. But the Renewable Energy Foundation, a charity, has published a new study suggesting that the companies were paid £6bn last year.
Dale Vince, a green industrialist and founder of Ecotricity, a power supplier, said households should not have to pay for the cost of upgrading these privately-owned regional networks.
He said: “This isn’t about net zero, but an energy system fit for purpose and ultimately it’s about achieving energy security and lower bills. But consumers should not have to pay for this and do not need to.
“Network operators should invest their own money in upgrades – or give their licences back if they are unwilling to. Ofgem needs to do its job, regulate in the public interest, not in the interests of foreign monopolies.”
Richard Tice, the Reform Party’s energy spokesman, said: “Ofgem is announcing a huge increase in electricity bills in the coming years to pay for Labour’s obsession with net stupid zero, that was started by the Tories.
The Telegraph: continue reading
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