A few weeks ago no one would have predicted that we would be in the middle of the party conference season with a debate dominated by energy prices. Whilst Nick Clegg ducked the opportunity to spell out his commitment to a non-carbon energy system, Ed Miliband took the issue head on.
The price freeze announcement has struck a chord with the public and media. Regardless of your views on the policy, it has been main act since the party conference season. But after years in the doldrums, the current energy debate provides an opportunity to restart a conversation about climate change.
Knocking on doors in Milton Keynes, energy prices are certainly one of the biggest issues raised by the public. The rage against the big energy firms has heightened over the last few weeks as more companies have announced inflation-busting price hikes. Whilst most households just want relief from the never-ending pressure on family incomes, the monopolistic power of the big six firms tells a broader story about market failure.
Behind the headline grabbing price freeze is a bold plan to reinvigorate our energy markets and to secure a sustainable energy mix. The recent IPCC report underscored the need to challenge the tepid, lacklustre response of the coalition on climate change. The world’s leading scientists are clear that that the evidence of human impact on global warming is ‘unequivocal’. Flooding and more volatile weather are the biggest threats to climate change in the UK. It is time for governments to act.
Nuclear new build might address one part of our future energy need but it is not a strategy by itself, especially with the kind of eye-watering price guarantees given to EDF without any public scrutiny. Instead of addressing the underlying pressure on energy bills, the Tories have set about a false argument about green obligations and investment in alternative energy sources. David Cameron has been forced to drop his early commitment to the environment. Despite being a sideshow on climate change, fracking has become the only game in town for the Tories. Like the bogus promoters in some of Britain’s failed Victorian rail schemes he promises great returns and cheaper products with scant regard for the evidence. George Osborne and Owen Paterson are the ringleaders for a climate sceptical, free market wing on the Tory benches that thrives on coalition divisions. On the international scene, the election of Tony Abbott in Australia has given conservative politicians hope that the forward march of climate policy can be halted.
In the face of this opposition, Ed Miliband set out a clear message that instead of being a barrier to economic growth, climate change is central to constructing a sustainable economy for the future. This builds on the argument he outlined to the Green Alliance in September last year when he stated: ‘We need growth to serve a purpose: raising aspirations, improving the quality of life, and passing on a better inheritance to the next generation’. The Labour leader committed his party to whole raft of energy policy: pledging to support the 2030 decarbonisation target; reforming the energy market to separate the wholesale and retail sectors; and allowing the Green Investment Bank to pump prime resources into renewable and energy efficiency projects.
What is interesting about all the criticism levelled at Ed Miliband following his speech is that no one has challenged his central premise that our energy market is failing. This is not a competitive market place providing choice for consumers. Ed has lifted the lid on a monopoly industry that does not serve either the public interest or national need to secure our long-term energy needs. For that reason alone, progressive advocates should support his proposals. We now have space to create an ambitious and radical debate about our future energy needs and how we marry together social justice and environmental progress with innovation and business enterprise. Whilst climate change has failed to ignite popular debate following the recession, the political resonance of rising domestic bills has created the leverage to mainstream energy policy again. I genuinely hope that progressive Conservative and Lib Dem politicians rise to this challenge rather than simply dismissing Ed’s appeal as a lurch to the left. Ed has created a political moment, it is now up to the rest of us to determine whether it is a game changer or not.
Andrew Pakes is a former adviser to the shadow cabinet on environmental issues and the Labour and Cooperative parliamentary candidate in his home town of Milton Keynes. He tweets @andrew4mk
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I am afraid the price of energy will continue to rise despite Ed’s temporary freeze and the resetting of the market if he wins the next election. This is because fossil fuel will cost more as world demand outstrips supply (with producers being forced to drill for less accessible and therefore more expensive reserves) and renewable sources of energy in the short term term at least will remain expensive, as will nuclear energy (witness the price of electricity from Hinkley which will be double the current rate)
In these circumstances the only way to bring bills down is a national home insulation programme and to use energy generally much more efficiently By doings so there will be a triple bonus, lower bills, less CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere, and the creation of thousands of much needed jobs. This is what Ed needs to bring to the fore if there is to be a real game-changer on this matter..