A new report has called for Ed Miliband’s net zero ministry to be abolished, warning Britons are paying too high a price for climate change policies. [some emphasis, links added]
New research published on Thursday by the Prosperity Institute argued consumers were getting a raw deal because energy and climate change policies come under one roof — the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) led by Mr. Miliband.
It called for Mr. Miliband’s department to be abolished by the next government and replaced with a slimmed-down ministry, focused on bringing down the cost of energy bills.
The Prosperity Institute report, titled ‘It’s Broke, Fix It: Where British Energy Policy Went Wrong and How to Get it Right’, calls to “abolish and replace” DESNZ, warning it has allowed energy policy to be “totally captured by vested interests”.
The report said:
“Far from the Whitehall myth of ‘speaking truth to power’, the department has overseen far and away the worst policy disaster since 1945, all the while being a cheerleader for it.
“Rather than attempt to reform the department and to make it capable of developing and implementing policies needed to reverse the mess it created, a new Government should create a new, small, high-quality, policy-only department.”
The report also called for Ofgem, Britain’s energy regulator, to be reformed and its leadership replaced, branding it an “enforcer” for the climate change policies of DESNZ.
“Ofgem, too, has been completely captured by the climate lobby,” it said, accusing the regulator of “pure climate propaganda”.
The report has been endorsed by Claire Coutinho, the Shadow Energy Secretary, who is a self-described “net zero sceptic”.
In her foreword to the report, Ms Coutinho said:
“Since the mid-2000s, the British people have been promised something that seemed too good to be true.
“A swiftly delivered green energy sector built on solar and wind power that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and reduce our carbon emissions and energy bills at the same time.
“All this was in aid of reaching net zero. The trouble is, it was too good to be true.”
Ms Coutinho warned that the energy market no longer “prioritizes the consumer” because climate targets were put before a focus on keeping costs down.
She continued:
“As we look to a future unburdened by net zero and the Climate Change Act, the ideas in this report will be immensely useful to debate so we can chart the journey back to an energy system that puts consumers at its core.”
Mr Miliband has been accused of putting net-zero targets before the economy by attempting to decarbonize 95 percent of the electricity grid by 2030.
This week, he launched a £15bn green energy plan to fit solar panels, heat pumps, insulation, and double glazing to five million homes at the expense of the taxpayer.
Read rest at The Telegraph
