Miliband ‘covered up’ document showing net zero plan will increase bills

Ed Miliband has been accused of “covering up” evidence that Labour’s net zero plans will increase household electricity bills.

The Conservatives and Britain Remade, a Right-leaning think tank, have claimed that the Energy Secretary is hiding documents that show his decision to scrap major market reforms will cost consumers while benefiting green energy generators.

Mr Miliband abandoned a proposal for regional electricity pricing last year following warnings from wind farm developers that it would torpedo investment and put Labour’s clean power 2030 target in jeopardy.

The Energy Secretary promised to publish a “full cost-benefit analysis” by the end of last year – but his department has so far failed to do this and has repeatedly blocked the release of an official impact assessment of the policy.

Sam Richards, of Britain Remade, said: “It’s time for Ed Miliband to come clean on his reckless decision not to reform the energy market by moving to a local pricing model.

“Hiding behind process to stop the release of the impact assessment, after announcing the policy, makes no sense, unless, as suspected, it shows that decisions taken by the energy secretary will in fact raise bills.”

Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, said: “Zonal pricing reduces wind developer profits, but it also cuts the cost of building the grid, which is already almost a third of electricity bills.

“Of course, once again Ed Miliband is siding with wind developers over consumers, and now he’s trying to cover up just how much it’s going to cost you.”

Responding to a freedom of information request by The Telegraph, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) – which flouted the rules by taking five months to respond – has argued that the document was never finished and that releasing it now risks creating “confusion and misunderstanding”.

It also claims that “work on the modelling and analysis is still ongoing”, despite simultaneously insisting the policy has been completely ruled out.

After this newspaper’s appeal against that decision, the Energy Department has warned – without providing evidence – that releasing the secret document could “disrupt both energy and financial markets, which would have the potential to affect even domestic energy bills”.

Emma Floyd, the department’s director for clean energy investment, told The Telegraph: “We accept that public interest heavily favours disclosure.

“However, we have to take into consideration the types of factors outlined above.”

An acrimonious row about zonal pricing erupted last year, sharply dividing opinion in Westminster and the energy industry.

The proposal would have split Britain’s electricity market into regional zones, with each setting its own prices depending on supply and demand.

Supporters, including the National Energy System Operator, Britain Remade, Octopus Energy and Ovo Energy, argued the reform would have cut bills for all households by slashing system costs, including the substantial fees paid to wind farms to switch off when the grid is too congested to handle their power.

A study by FTI Consulting, commissioned by Octopus, conservatively estimated savings of more than £3.7bn a year.

But major wind farm owners, including SSE, Scottish Power and RWE, opposed the policy, arguing it would create a “postcode lottery” and inject substantial uncertainty into the market and paralyse investment.

In multiple public warnings to ministers, bosses suggested that any disruption risked the delivery of Labour’s highly ambitious 2030 clean power target. 

The Telegraph revealed last year that civil servants advising Mr Miliband had nonetheless backed the policy and urged him to approve it, only for the Energy Secretary to announce in July that it was being junked “to give certainty to investors”.

Since then, the Government has unveiled plans for “reformed national pricing” and schemes to cut bills for consumers who use more power when there is too much wind generation, in an attempt to tackle a wasted wind bill that last year hit a record £1.5bn.

Under Mr Miliband’s plans, the amount of offshore wind capacity is set to triple by 2030.

A DESNZ spokesman said: “Transitioning to zonal pricing would have created at least seven years of uncertainty, putting a risk premium on new investment that could have caused bills to rise in the short term.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]