Andy Burnham is creating a publicly-owned body to speed up grid connections and bring down the cost of electricity.
He will tell the Labour Party conference that he want energy costs to be brought downin line with other nations in Europe within ten years.
The new body – Great British Grid or GB Grid – will operate within Great British Energy to help improve competition, speed up grid connections for businesses, support reindustrialisation and drive down bills.
This comes 36 after Britain’s energy grid was privatised by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government which he blames for much of the problems facing the British economy today.
Mr Burnham will tell Labour delegates that decades of sluggish development and underinvestment in Britain’s grid have created a barrier to growth.
The grid queue and slow connections are consistently called out by businesses and UK investors as a major blocker to investment.
GB Grid will boost the network infrastructure needed to connect homes, businesses and major projects to the grid, as well as maximise and speed up the rollout of renewables across the UK.
To help businesses stuck waiting for connections to get onto the grid, the Labour government will also expand the rights of businesses to build connection infrastructure themselves, with GB Grid available to support and co-invest, so they no longer have to wait for network companies. In Ireland this approach sped up connections by 11 months.
This is a major expansion of GB Energy’s remit and powers, which has helped to install clean energy at a school or hospital every two days on average and is preparing to invest in a range of projects from its new HQ in Aberdeen which was officially opened last week.
The Prime Minister will say: “We have a cost crisis. We all know it. The price of energy is crippling for businesses, and British billpayers pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe.
“We have an energy system where prices are dictated in markets miles away, while families and businesses here shoulder the costs. Once again, the British public has lost control.
“Within ten years, I want our energy costs to be in line with other nations in Europe. That means we must reform a broken energy market so it serves the public interest.
“I can announce today our plan for Great British Grid, a publicly-owned company that will work with the private sector and network companies. It will increase competition to drive down costs and speed up delivery so businesses can connect faster and grow quicker. This is what more public control can do.”
Miatta Fahnbulleh, the Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero, said: “Great British Grid will help speed up connections, unlock investment and boost economies across our nation.
“Alongside GB Energy, this is another step towards mending the decades of Tory policies which ripped out public control from our energy systems.
“Because the only way to bring down bills for good for homes and businesses is through clean power we can control.”
GB Grid will
- be given the objective of rewiring Britain by acting as the first publicly owned player in electricity networks since privatisation. It will be able to invest in and compete for transmission projects, backed up by greater public oversight of network planning, and by supporting companies which take advantage of new “self-build” connection rights.
- help shape the future of Britain’s electricity network, working alongside existing network companies to deliver economic growth, energy security and clean power.
- be funded from within GB Energy’s existing budgets.
- act as a dedicated networks investment vehicle, bringing together public and private investment, as well as specialist expertise, to help tackle delays and cost increases in the delivery of critical network infrastructure. This will ensure the network can keep pace with Britain’s clean energy and industrial ambitions, while complementing GB Energy’s focus on clean power generation.
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