Ed Miliband said the £8.3billion bill to create a publicly owned energy investment firm would shield consumers from global market shocks – and would be a ‘crucial tool’ in driving down bills
Ed Miliband said Labour’s plan for a publicly owned energy firm would be “a crucial tool” in driving down bills, as MPs voted the Great British Energy bill through the Commons on Thursday.
A Tory bid to scupper the bill fell by a mammoth 348 votes to 94 – a majority of 254 votes.
Mr Miliband said the £8.3billion bill to create a publicly owned energy investment firm would shield consumers from global market shocks, like those seen following Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine. The Energy Secretary told MPs: “The truth is that we had the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation because of our exposure to fossil fuels. We have seen prices rise again on October 1, not because of decisions made by Government but because of our dependence on international gas markets.
“The argument for clean energy that we used to debate 15 years ago was a climate argument. It is now as much an energy security argument as a climate argument.”
Ofgem, the energy watchdog, announced over the summer it would hike its price cap by 10% from the current £1,568 for a typical household in England, Scotland and Wales to £1,717 from October. They blamed rising prices in the international energy market amid political turmoil and extreme weather events for the increase.
Mr Miliband said rising prices were a “massive concern” for voters and vowed Great British Energy would drive down bills.
“Here is the truth,” he said. “And in a way every member in this House has to take a judgment about this – do they believe that business as usual, staying on fossil fuels, is going to give us the energy security we need?”
He went on: “The British people voted for change, and they voted for our party’s promise of the first new national publicly owned energy generating company in our country for more than 75 years, Great British Energy.
“Even before this Bill, we already have widespread state ownership of our energy assets in Britain – by other countries: Denmark, Sweden, Norway and France, through their own state owned companies. Indeed, get this, the city of Munich owns more of our offshore wind capacity than the British Government.”
Mr Miliband added: “We have a simple proposition: If it’s right for the Danes, the French, the Norwegians, the Swedes, to own British energy assets, it’s right for the British people to do so as well, and that’s why we fought the election on this crucial principle, the British people should have a right to own and benefit from our natural resources.”
Conservative shadow energy security secretary Claire Coutinho said she feared MPs would be signing off on “£8 billion of taxpayers’ money for a completely blank cheque, for an energy company that won’t cut your bills or turn a profit by 2030”.