Post: Energy security plans set to become law

Energy security plans set to become law

A tranche of energy measures that look to boost Britain’s energy independence and security are set to become law, after the government unveiled its Energy Security Bill.

Upon revealing the Bill on 6 July, the government described it as “the most significant piece of energy legislation in a decade”, one that will drive £100B of private sector investment into new British industries by 2030, helping to diversify the UK’s domestic energy supply.

The Bill contains 26 measures in total, spread across three themes: reforming the energy system to protect consumers from unfair pricing, leveraging private investment in clean technologies and building a homegrown energy system, and ensuring the safety, security and resilience of the UK’s energy system.

Introducing the Bill Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “To ensure we are no longer held hostage by rogue states and volatile markets, we must accelerate plans to build a truly clean, affordable, home-grown energy system in Britain […] This is the biggest reform of our energy system in a decade. We’re going to slash red tape, get investment into the UK, and grab as much global market share as possible in new technologies to make this plan a reality.”

Measures set to be introduced include those to support the deployment of low carbon technologies at scale such as carbon, capture, usage and storage and hydrogen, helping drive investment by giving businesses the certainty they need.

Other measures included in the Bill, such as those encouraging the deployment of heat networks and driving down the cost of ultra-efficient electric heat pumps, and the establishment of a Future System Operator, tasked with taking a whole-system approach to coordinating and planning the country’s energy system.

It also will bring forward measures for downstream oil security, covering sites such as oil terminals and filling stations, preventing fuel supply disruption; make the UK’s oil and gas sector fit for the future by enabling existing legislation to be updated, ensuring that the offshore oil and gas environmental regime maintains high standards when it comes to habitat protection and pollution response; and pledged to protect taxpayers by maximising cost recovery, meaning that in line with the polluter pays principle, government will be able to more fully recover the costs associated with regulating offshore oil and gas decommissioning activities from the industry.

GridBeyond Managing Director UK and Ireland Mark Davis said:

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