While a positive statement of intent, the plans for Great British Energy are lacking detail, writes Policy Fellow Ian Parke.
I was listening to the radio the other afternoon when the discussion turned to Great British Energy.
I heard with great interest what listeners thought or understood about the initiative.
How can I put this? Not a lot.
Almost everyone during the one-hour phone-in had heard about Great British Energy during the election. But no one could explain what it is or how it’s going to work.
Let me repeat that: ‘no one’. Even the presenter was at a loss.
A positive statement of intent, but lacking in detail
It should be applauded that the government has made a positive statement of intent so early in its administration.
Great British Energy is a welcome and massive step in the right direction. We need to recognise this and support it.
But to say that the founding statement for Great British Energy is short on detail is rather an understatement.
It reads like a wish list but contains very little information on how the company will achieve its aims.
In its current form, the Great British Energy Bill restricts its objectives to facilitating, encouraging, and participating in support of clean energy.
But the ‘how’ is missing.
A £300 per year ‘ransom’
An issue I foresee is that the government is somewhat holding itself to ransom with the public.
To say that energy bills will decrease by around £300 annually may be correct. But the public expects this now, not in five years or more, which the secretary of state has since suggested.
The benefits of low-carbon energy are numerous. Reduced carbon emissions and cleaner air. A more reliable, secure, and resilient power grid. More jobs. More manufacturing. More innovation.
But, in my experience, many people overlook and underappreciate these benefits. Sad, but true.
Without more engineers, decarbonising will be impossible
The other elephant in the room is Labour’s commitment to decarbonise the electricity system by 2030.
Just think about that. Six years. Or, for the more technically inclined, a little over 2,000 days.
Although a laudable target, this is not going to happen.
There are many reasons, but perhaps the most fundamental and overlooked is the engineering skills gap.
We simply do not have engineers in the numbers needed to achieve this – and that is the leveller.
Engineering isn’t a skill one can learn overnight. Nor is it a skill that, once learned, one can deploy in multiple areas at the same time.
What I would have liked to see in the Great British Energy Bill was a commitment from the government to support engineering.
By this, I mean a commitment to provide suitable funding at all stages of education, particularly at degree level.
Will public ownership work in practice?
The other thing I’m nervous about is public ownership.
Ownership by the British people is fine in principle, and something I support, but the flipside is that the public will own the debt.
Most energy projects have a lengthy gestation period.
Even though one of the government’s main infrastructure aims is reducing the time from planning to execution, experience tells me it will take years before any projects generate revenue.
Hence, the public will finance the capital costs. This is fine, but it should be noted.
We should support Great British Energy – but we need to be realistic
No one should underestimate the task the government has set itself.
As I said before, we should acknowledge and support it. But, above all, we need to be realistic and pragmatic.
The public will generally be supportive, as many already are already on the journey to low-carbon energy.
I put solar panels on my roof over 10 years ago. I drive an electric vehicle.
But public support is finite. Not just in numbers, but also in timescale.
An initiative that makes unrealistic promises is unlikely to succeed and risks stifling future support.
A challenge we should embrace
To achieve its laudable aims, Great British Energy needs to establish itself as a worthwhile initiative the public can support.
Success will require partnerships. Not just with industry, but all stakeholders: government departments, local authorities, landowners, community groups, businesses, and more,
Professional institutions such as the ICE will play an important role, especially in skills development, and it’s a challenge we should embrace.
I, for one, wish Great British Energy the best of luck and sincerely hope it makes a valid contribution to society.
The journey to net zero continues.
Cometh the hour.
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