Government neglecting energy security

• Feb. 9 by Chloe Botting (0)

Spokesperson for Ofgem John Moylan has warned Birmingham and all other mainland areas in the UK to prepare for their gas and electricity bills to increase even more over the next few years.

He added that the energy industry is going to need two hundred billion pounds worth of investment and that mainland Britain could face the serious problem of power shortages in the years ahead.

The final report by Ofgem has revealed that the competitive energy market could fail to deliver secure, sustainable supplies in the coming decade.

Warnings have also been made that there may be a large number of consumers that may not be able to afford the energy prices that may rise substantially as a result of the crisis.

There is a concern in the industry that the energy companies will not commit to the two hundred billion pounds that is needed by 2020 without stronger incentives and this will therefore have a knock- on effect on prices for consumers.

Some solutions that Ofgem offered were setting a minimum carbon price to encourage investment in “green” technology as well as encouraging suppliers to demonstrate how they would cope with threats to supply.

Councillor Karen Hamilton, part of the Liberal Democrat party at Perry Barr, said:

“The government should be doing more to secure our energy supplies.

Many of my constituents are concerned about the cost of electricity and gas especially after the very low temperatures that we had in January.

The government really needs to a lot more to tackle fuel poverty.”