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Britain Makes Cheap Energy. Why Are Our Bills So High?

Jonathan Tracey

30,065 views

Could Britain become more energy independent in just five years?
And would producing more of our own electricity actually mean lower energy bills?

After watching Martin Lewis question Miatta Fahnbulleh, I wanted to move beyond identifying the problems and ask what a serious plan could look like.

This video explores a five-year UK energy resilience thought experiment: what would we need to build, change and prioritise to keep Britain running through a major international energy disruption?

I look at wind and solar power, the longer-term role of nuclear, North Sea oil and gas, battery storage, strategic reserves and the electricity grid. I also ask what the London Olympics and HS2 tell us about Britain's ability to deliver major infrastructure.

But building more generation is only half the challenge. How do we make sure home-grown energy benefits the people paying the bills? That means examining electricity market reform, standing charges, public ownership and Great British Energy.

The emergency scenario is a hypothetical stress test, not a prediction of war.

What would you prioritise in a five-year energy plan—and how would you make sure it delivers cheaper bills? Let me know in the comments.

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20 Comments

@17crescent 7 days ago

If public money is used to fund or subsidise a project, private corporations should not be allowed to take the profit.

@bellshooter 7 days ago (edited)

Ahem! Hold my beer..
HS2 Rant
As a Railway Engineer (retired) I was involved in 'HS2' before it was finalised, and nobody remembers it was not a 'High Speed' project , it was a relief line to allow higher speed FREIGHT on existing lines. Only designated HS2 as building an HS line was an incremental cost on building any line to Interoperable standards. The failure was poor definition at day 1, and allowing politicians to f*** with the project on the way. This increased costs and reduced utility, a tunnel not a cut, a cut not surface rail, an extra station .... COST.

Electricity Rant
There is little that needs to be done to achieve total energy independence. It is blindingly obvious that mandating the inclusion of battery storage and solar on every new or refurbished house, building, car park, and banning the sale of fossil boilers would be transforming. Plus requiring all car parks and commercial buildings to install the same within 5 years. Plus real planning reform , preventing local councils blocking energy infrastructure. Nuclear is too little too late, too expensive. Make all electricity suppliers price on the energy basket cost, not the gas generation rates.

@palemale2501 7 days ago

We have become accustomed to the massive Red Tape involved in all UK projects - things take 3 times as long and cost 3 times as much, yet we get half of what was expected.
We saw similar in nuclear power station construction - endless committees, enviornmental impact surveys etc etc - jobs for the boys, but more for admin amateurs, than engineers.

@paulj6 7 days ago

If only we did this 10 years ago when interest rates were low instead of wasting time and money on Brexit. Unfortunately those with vested interests in oil have a loud voice in this country.

@michaelfountain3898 6 days ago

Outstanding analysis sir !

@tomsdaddy 7 days ago

I don't understand why you are asking this question ?

The question you need to ask is not so much 'How can we be energy independent in 5 yrs ?', but 'How can we significantly reduce Energy Bills in LESS than 5 Years ?' - ie - if you want to get Re-Elected, - within the life of the next Parliament (!)

And yes, some of that will come from new, additional infrastructure, - but surely a large part of the answer will come from administrative re-organisation of the existing energy Market ?

That means NOT having ever more-expensive Gas as the Fuel that sets the price to consumers !

We can't just deliver lower prices by reducing the time that Gas contributes to the energy mix, - we have to just stop its price being the price that sets the market

@stephenfidler1005 7 days ago

We could have had regional pricing. This would restrict the peak prices to specific regions allowing others to have cheaper electricity and incentives large users like data centres to follow the cheap energy prices.

@Jaw0lf 7 days ago (edited)

A clever use of battery storage is to send the amount of power that a power line can handle, the storage should be big enough to collect the capacity of the renewable source and would then trickle electricity overnight. Many of these would help a whole lot of being self sufficient.
The whole system does need change and profits could be easily used to continue upgrading the grid and lowering the electricity bills for consumers.
A fantastic video and this needs to be seen by all of the MP's.

@stephenfidler1005 7 days ago

Fogstar do a 10kwh battery for 1300-1600. Allow households to borrow the money to be repaid from a reduced electricity bill would 1. Flatten the duck curve like in Australia, 2. Give every household a electricity rebate. 3. Give households protection from power cuts

@neilmarshall2315 7 days ago

Ease planning for listed buildings and their environment, currently it takes far too long to for the conservation officers to reach a positive decision to allow panels to be placed on them.

@DavidShaw-e4y 7 days ago

I think that you are totally right, however Governnents either wont bother, go for the cheapest option so they dont Upset investors who are raking in thier profits off the back of consumer grief (they simply dont care)

@chas3997 7 days ago

We need over capacity in wind and roof top solar. With consumers of power being made responsible for generating their own power by up to 50% minimum. Local geothermal and hydrogen or even hydro/tidal generation locally could suppliment this localised set up. Then grid scale batteries could provide the back up.
There are places all over the world that run on 100% renewable energy so we know it can be done!

@councellingthecouncillors 6 days ago

Er local STATE owned energy banks, battery tech is moving faster than nuclear. Combined commercial and rsidential battery electrical energy storage is key outside of internal battery packs, only a proper developed state policy can ensure true energy independance but how do we isolate commercial interests from national interests?

@PaulBeney 7 days ago

I'm always a bit baffled as to why an island nation such as ours doesn't make more use of tidal and wave energy.

@philhough3596 7 days ago

It’s a great idea but lobbying is powerful, and there are big companies with lots of money ready to lobby for the status quo.

@SynergyDMS 7 days ago (edited)

You start with intelligence reports about Russia attacking NATO in 5 years. But the lesson from Ukraine (and now the Gulf) is that energy needs to be highly distributed to best cope with vast quantities of low-cost long-range drones and missiles (soon be fully autonomous) over attritional extended periods. So that's NOT nuclear, NOT big offshore wind farms, NOT big new grid infrastructure, NOT big reservoirs, NOT big oil refineries/terminals. All vulnerable single points of failure as we have seen.

It IS localised regional pricing, over build solar on all new buildings with community onshore wind turbines and anaerobic digestion plants. Plugin batteries, bi-directional EV charging and demand shifting. Localised green ammonia production from excess renewables for fertilizer. Shift to a more vegetarian based diet food production to be self sufficient in food. Plant sustainable forests and mandate latest super efficient log burners in new builds outside cities.

We still need oil for things like plastics and pharmaceuticals though. Maybe with time we can find alternatives to these too.

@mattesla 6 days ago

We need distributed energy, the government should be subsidising domestic battery install and build a UK VPP that's a lot harder to disrupt

@Caws_a_Bara 7 days ago

At one point there was alot of interest in small scale community power projects but they were scuppered in 2015 by the government.......where would we be now without the ban on onshore wind.....and don't get me started on tidal power and lagoons.....

@simonpannett8810 7 days ago

Most needed Electricity Power lines (Scotland to England) prioritised, More Off Grid and local grids, lots more Solar Panels on roofs, More on shore Wind Turbines and Energy Storage to help local communities. Good idea to lock into a date for delivery!!

@druid3274 1 day ago

Such a detailed and comprehensive explanation. Invoked so many thoughts. There’s no shortage of clever people in this country but leaders, people who actually don’t talk but lead, mostly by example rather than bully. Whilst the topic is mostly about electricity and with the concept of war, spare a thought for those in Ukraine and exactly how that war is being played out. Yes we need to be thoughtful about building our independence but don’t waste the energy and expense if it’s all going to be blown up or dismantled with an EMP. Always keep a shilling for the gas my nan used to say and thats where clever comes in. Never put all your eggs in the sane basket and thats exactly where we’re heading. My solution, build a dirty great barrier around our coast. Make it so it protects land invaders, even in small boats. Use it to produce lagoons and reclaim land. Mainly use it to produce wave energy; twice a day. Build desalination and hydrogen from surplus. Give millions a job, for life.