Shapps warns suppliers they must be ready to pass on cuts in wholesale prices to customers
Energy suppliers must be ready to pass on cuts in wholesale prices to customers as quickly as possible, Grant Shapps will insist in a speech at Chatham House later today.
At the Energy Transitions Conference in London, energy security secretary Grant Shapps will pledge to drive down household energy bills, so that UK has “among the cheapest wholesale electricity prices in Europe.”
“This is critical to consumers, to our country and to our planet,” Shapps is expected to say.
The commitment comes with energy suppliers under scrutiny over the use of prepayment meters, while households face an up to £900 hike in their energy bills from April.
Shapps will also reiterate the UK’s commitments to ramping domestic energy generation including nuclear and renewable sources to shield households from high energy bills and ensure that “never again should Putin or anyone like him even think they can hold the UK to ransom”.
“Families have seen the impact on the pounds in their pockets of Putin’s illegal march on Ukraine a year ago – and it has opened the world’s eyes to just how vulnerable we are to tyrants like him,” he will argue.
This will be achieved through focusing on the UK achieving ever-greater energy independence – cutting the UK’s reliance on the volatile international energy markets by powering Britain from Britain using home-grown sources like renewables and nuclear technologies.
Shapps will explain: “Working towards this overarching goal of cheaper wholesale electricity will mean we will be powering Britain from Britain, increasing our energy security and independence – the kind of independence that comes from having the four biggest wind farms off our shores.”
Finally Shapps is set to hit out against “enviro-extremists” such as Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, which he will argue are disrupting people’s lives and diverting vital police resources through their tactics.
Instead, Shapps will suggest people will back action to tackle climate change where they can also see the benefits.
He said: ““All this will be better for our planet – energy security and tackling climate change are ultimately two sides of the same coin. And it will be this – not the eco-extremists like Extinction Rebellion causing disruption and dismay – that will have people voting with their feet as they see the benefits of achieving net zero.”