UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham will set up a new publicly owned “Great British Grid” in a bid to bring UK energy costs down in line with European nations within a decade.
In his leader’s speech to the Labour Party conference on Tuesday, he will announce plans to create GB Grid – a new body under the Great British Energy umbrella that will be the first publicly owned player in electricity networks since privatisation under Margaret Thatcher.
The move will give “more public control” to help reform the “broken energy market,” he will say.
Mr Burnham will say it aims to boost competition and speed up grid connections for businesses – which have complained about how delays have hampered investment.
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 10 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.
”Mr Burnham also aims to achieve a faster rollout of renewables and a boost to network infrastructure. Labour will also give businesses rights to “self-build” their connection infrastructure and make GB Grid available to co-invest, taking away the need to wait for network companies.
GB Grid 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,” Mr Burnham is set to say. Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said the move was “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,” she said.
Shadow energy secretary Andrew Bowie said: “Great British Grid will become Great British Gridlock if Labour continue to pile on green levies and taxes – this is what is holding back our energy system.
“Burnham wants to nationalise the network so Labour can cram on more subsidised wind farms, and families will pay twice over.
“The Conservatives would get out of the way, letting businesses build their own gas power and grid connections and bid openly for capacity, and cutting electricity costs for every business through our Cheap Power Plan.”
