During the 2024 general election, Labour campaigned on the introduction of a nationally owned and operated energy producer – Great British Energy. Following their election victory, the party has moved quickly to introduce the Great British Energy Bill to parliament to make this promise a reality. Among the goals of the bill, and the introduction of Great British Energy, is to reduce the amount UK households are spending on gas and electricity. Keir Starmer’s government also seeks to reduce the UK’s reliance on overseas oil and gas and to transition to green electricity production by 2030.
What is Great British Energy?
Great British Energy, also called GB Energy, will be a new, publically owned green energy company. Under the guidance of Energy Secretary Ed Milliband, the UK government will invest £8.3 billion into improving the UK’s energy infrastructure and producing sustainable energy. The government plans to increase their spending on existing sustainable energy production. This includes onshore wind farms, solar farms and nuclear energy. They will also work with the private sector to co-invest in emerging technologies such as offshore wind, tidal power and ‘green’ hydrogen produced through water electrolysis.
Can I switch to GB Energy?
GB Energy will not be a domestic energy supplier. That means you won’t be able to switch your energy tariff over to them like you would with Octopus Energy, British Gas or Scottish Power. Instead, it will be focused on producing cheap, sustainable energy in the UK. This will then be sold to domestic suppliers and distributed to their customers.
Will Great British Energy save me money?
One of the main aims of introducing Great British Energy is to reduce household energy bills. In their election manifesto, Labour pledged that the scheme would reduce average energy bills by £300 a year by 2030. However, Energy Secretary Ed Milliband has since warned that consumers will need to be patient, saying “It’s not going to happen overnight“. Speaking with BBC Breakfast, he explained that as new renewable projects “start coming online we’ll start to see the effect on bills” and that the government is “going as fast as we can”.
The Local Power Plan
As well as investing in national-level energy infrastructure, £3.3 billion has been earmarked for local energy projects through the Local Power Plan. The intention is for more energy to be used and produced at a smaller geographic scale. This will reduce strain on the national grid. Great British Energy will partner with smaller-scale local projects to produce an estimated 8 gigawatts of energy. Profits will then be shared with the communities in question.
What are the other goals of GB Energy?
Outside of reducing consumer bills, Labour’s manifesto outlined their other intentions for Great British Energy. Chief among them is improving the sustainability and security of the UK energy industry. By investing in local energy production, the UK will become less reliant on imported oil and gas for energy. In turn, this should mean we see fewer energy price jumps because of global events. As we saw during the 2021 energy crisis, our current system is heavily dependent on international relations. Labour has also pledged to create 650,000 UK jobs in local energy generation. They have published an interactive map on the GB Energy website that shows where these jobs will be available.
