If you’d like to discuss energy issues, contact Court Rich, Co-Chair of Rose Law Group’s Renewable Energy Department at crich@roselawgroup.com?
The British government announced on Friday far-reaching changes in energy regulation intended to encourage development of renewable energy and nuclear power while ensuring that the country can still meet its electricity needs.
The New York Times reports the changes will gradually quadruple the charges levied on consumers and businesses to help support electricity generation from low-carbon sources, to a total of about £9.8 billion, or $15.7 billion, in the 2020-21 fiscal year, from £2.35 billion now.
The government forecasts such charges would add 2 percent to energy bills.
The effort shows Britain, despite an ailing economy, is sticking to the ambitious goals for renewable energy and emissions reductions set in 2008 under the Labour government of Gordon Brown.
Britain is also shifting its approach toward energy. In the 1990s, Britain led Europe in deregulation of its energy markets. Now it is returning to a system of greater market intervention to fulfill what the government considers to be an imperative to reduce greenhouse gases.
Companies will invest in clean energy only if given substantial incentives. The government hopes to attract £110 billion in energy investment through 2020.
The proposed changes come after months of debate within the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government. The Liberal Democrats favor tough goals to reduce emissions. The Conservatives, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, lean more toward promoting the use of natural gas. They also worry that wind farms will spoil the countryside, where many Conservative voters reside.
Businesses are likely to welcome the bill because, if nothing else, it reduces the uncertainty that has made big investment decisions difficult.
“These higher energy costs are likely to hit low-income consumers hard,” said Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com, which sells consumers electricity online at favorable rates.
