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When campaigning for office Labour named five priorities, from kickstarting economic growth to halving serious violent crime. Progress has been patchy, at best. But on one of its five “missions”, making Britain a clean-energy “superpower”, there is some cheerful news. In 2024, for the first time, renewable energy (mainly wind and solar power) generated most of Britain’s electricity.
In addition to providing environmental benefits, renewables are supposed to help cut utility bills, because they generate electricity much more cheaply than gas power stations, Britain’s main source since the 1990s. The secretary of state for energy, Ed Miliband, stresses that renewable energy is “desirable, because it can lead to cheaper, more secure electricity”.
But there is little evidence that renewables are making electricity cheaper. According to the International Energy Agency, which tracks end-user tariffs, in the rich world British industry pays the most for its electricity, often by an astonishing margin. Prices are 50-100% higher than in most of continental Europe and more than three times those in America (see chart). British households also face painful tariffs. Although they benefit from a regulatory cap on energy prices, this is adjusted quarterly and has been rising since October. On February 25th Ofgem, the...