This Government was elected to deliver change for the British people, and the beating heart of our plan is to bring down bills and get off our dependence on fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators, writes Ed Miliband.
Ofgem announces new price cap (Image: Getty)
We all know that in recent years, energy bills have been too high for British families and businesses. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused bills to soar because our country is dependent on fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators. The impact has been spiralling energy costs for the British people.
That is why it is welcome news that energy bills are expected to fall from this July. On Friday, Ofgem announced that the energy price cap for July to September will be 7% lower than the previous cap.
Ed Miliband says labour plans to take back energy control (Image: Getty)
This means families will pay on average £11 less per month on their bills, helping you keep more of the money you earn. Bills coming down is welcome news, but this is far from job done.
This Government was elected to deliver change for the British people, and a crucial part of that is being relentless in our pursuit of bringing down bills for good and protecting consumers through our Plan for Change.
Earlier this year we launched a consultation on expanding the Warm Home Discount to give around six million households £150 off their bills next winter – so one in five families in the UK get this vital support.
Alongside this, we are fixing a broken energy retail market, because we know that too many Express readers have suffered poor customer service from their energy company, and that needs to change.
So we are standing up for consumers on the issues that matter to them, including acting on standing changes and forced installation of prepayment meters, and ensuring automatic compensation for wrongdoing.
But the beating heart of our plan to bring down bills once and for all is our plan to take back control of our energy and get off our dependence on fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators.
Fossil fuel shocks have caused half of Britain’s recessions since 1970, and in the years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine we have seen how vulnerable we are to the impact of geopolitical events.
That is why this Government is building the UK’s clean energy future- because every solar panel, every wind turbine and every piece of grid infrastructure we build helps get us off the fossil fuel rollercoaster so we can bring down bills once and for all.
It is why we are making huge planning decisions to say yes to new homegrown power projects such as solar and wind. Since July we have consented enough wind and solar projects to power 2 million homes.
We’ve also lifted the onshore wind ban and set up Great British Energy – Britain’s first publicly owned energy company in more than 70 years.
Energy bills are expected to fall from this July (Image: Getty)
At the heart of this drive for clean power is our belief that the British people can never again be left exposed to the rollercoaster of global gas markets over which we have no control.
Our drive for clean power is about giving our country control over our energy destiny again- and in doing so unleashing the huge jobs and wealth benefits that these new industries create.
I know that some in British politics oppose this drive for clean homegrown power- siren voices who want to rip up clean energy projects, say no to the jobs they bring, and plunge the UK deeper into dependency on foreign markets.
This Labour Government will fight them all the way because the British people deserve energy security now and for the future. Clean power offers us that security- and that is why we are relentless in pursuing it.
