Ed Miliband Lies About Energy Price Cap

By Paul Homewood

OFGEM have just announced the Energy Price Cap will rise by £149 a year from October 1^st, and Ed Miliband says it is all the fault of the wicked Tories.

In a prepared statement, he writes:

“Today’s announcement from Ofgem will be worrying news for families across Doncaster. The expected rise in the price cap is yet another consequence of the toxic legacy left by the previous government.

Their failure over 14 years to secure our energy system has left families paying more for their energy bills, and left us at the mercy of international markets controlled by dictators. The new Government is determined to change this.

The only long term solution to achieve energy independence is to sprint towards clean, homegrown power.

That’s why the Government is moving at pace to deliver on our mission for clean power, by lifting the onshore wind ban, consenting solar and getting more renewable projects built.”

The Labour manifesto is even clearer, stating that the Conservatives’ ban on new onshore wind has led to some of the highest energy bills in Europe. In other words, Miliband is claiming that those bills would have been lower if we had built more wind and solar farms.

But is this true?

Even Miliband himself cannot deny how obscenely expensive all of the renewable energy subsidised under Renewable Obligations (RO) continues to be. This was the scheme introduced by the Labour Government under Tony Blair. According to the OBR, it will add £7.9 billion to energy bills this year. The RO scheme was replaced for new projects in 2016 by Contracts for Difference (CfDs), but wind and solar farms already qualified under RO continue to receive subsidies, which to make matters worse automatically increase year-on-year.

When indirect renewable subsidies, such as providing standby capacity and grid balancing, are added on, the average household is paying over £500 pa for the privelege of having renewable energy.

For all of this, of course, we have Ed Miliband’s 2008 Climate Change Act to thank, the biggest act of national self harm ever inflicted on the UK. His concern for people’s high energy bills rings rather hollow!

But Miliband is specifically referring to David Cameron’s “ban” on onshore wind in 2016. The BBC/Labour Party often call it a ban, or more recently a de-facto ban. In reality there never was a ban. Cameron merely announced the end of subsidies for onshore wind and solar farms, whilst also making them subject to local planning approval in England. Unable to make a profit without generous subsidies, the building of new wind farms understandably ground to a halt.

There were however some onshore wind and solar farms already approved at the time for CfD subsidies, and on average these now receive a guaranteed price of £113.48 and £110.25/MWh respectively. The current market price, according to OFGEM, is £86.75. Clearly then, if the Tories had indeed built more wind and solar farms, electricity prices would have been even higher than they already are. And this does not even take into account all of those extra costs incurred to handle the problems of intermittency.

As for Miliband’s “dictators”, they’ll be loving his decision to out an end North Sea oil and gas!