Yearly Archives: 2025

Miliband urges energy watchdog to act as typical bill could rise by more than £100 a year

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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/feb/18/miliband-urges-energy-watchdog-to-act-as-typical-bill-could-rise-by-more-than-100-a-year

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, has asked Ofgem to crack down on inaccurate and large bills. Photograph: Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty Images

Exclusive: Whitehall source expects bills in England, Scotland and Wales to rise by about £9 a month over the next three months

Ed Miliband has urged the energy watchdog to take swift action as it emerged that the typical energy bill could soar by more than £100 a year amid a rise in global gas prices.

A Whitehall source said they expected bills in England, Scotland and Wales to increase by about £9 a month over the next three months in another challenge to government plans to tackle the cost of living.

They blamed volatile global gas prices linked to the end of the transit deal that enabled gas to flow to Europe, through Ukraine, from Russia.

Miliband, the energy secretary, has written an urgent letter to Ofgem, saying the price rise means the energy regulator must move faster to protect consumers.

This month, gas prices hit a two-year high, exacerbated by the lack of gas storage in Britain and Europe, combined with colder weather though prices have begun to stabilise. Cornwall Insight, a consultancy which produces closely watched forecasts for the energy price cap, is set to release its latest forecast on Tuesday.

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/feb/18/miliband-urges-energy-watchdog-to-act-as-typical-bill-could-rise-by-more-than-100-a-

Continue ReadingMiliband urges energy watchdog to act as typical bill could rise by more than £100 a year

Government cash ‘nowhere enough’ to deliver fair transition to green energy, unions warn

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-cash-nowhere-enough-deliver-fair-transition-green-energy-warn-unions

Gwynt y Mor, the world’s 2nd largest offshore wind farm located eight miles offshore in Liverpool Bay, off the coast of North Wales

NEW public cash for green energy may be a “step in the right direction” but is “nowhere near enough” to meet the government’s own jobs and manufacturing targets, unions warned today.

The rebuke came as Energy Secretary Ed Miliband invited applications to the £200 million Clean Energy Bonus scheme, offering financial support for green developers on condition they funnel investments and jobs into into areas suffering from deprivation or reliant on the fossil fuel sector.

The government had set targets to boost domestic production in the green supply chain by 60 per cent by 2030, hoping to create 35,000 jobs in areas essential to a transition from fossil fuels, which are often reliant on imports such as wind blades and transmission cables.

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TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “We should be making the towers, foundation and cables for zero carbon energy here – instead of paying other countries and importing them.

“The Clean Industry Bonus is an essential step in this direction. It will help the North Sea workforce find good quality, secure jobs and boost UK industry.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-cash-nowhere-enough-deliver-fair-transition-green-energy-warn-unions

Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.
Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.
Continue ReadingGovernment cash ‘nowhere enough’ to deliver fair transition to green energy, unions warn

Government and NHS boss ‘rewriting history’ on disastrous PFI

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-and-nhs-boss-rewriting-history-on-disastrous-pfi

Health Secretary Wes Streeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not seen) during a visit to Elective Orthopaedic Centre in Epsom, Surrey, January 6, 2025

BACKING private finance in the NHS should be a red line for any health secretary, campaigners charged today.

NHS England chief Amanda Pritchard told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme last week that the government should “consider” using private capital to fix the NHS’s crumbling infrastructure.

Today, Health Secretary Wes Streeting faced questions on the same programme about a potential return to failed private-finance initiative (PFI) schemes, in which private firms built hospitals and high-interest repayments were made over the long term.

Mr Streeting said that he does not pretend there are not “enormous challenges” because of NHS capital shortfall, and is “very sympathetic to the argument that we should try and leverage in private finance.”

But he admitted that many of the PFI deals “did lumber the NHS with an enormous cost that it continues to bear.”

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Johnbosco Nwogbo, of campaign group We Own It, said: “Support for more private finance in our NHS should disqualify you from being health secretary.

“Many NHS trusts are still spending more on PFI debts than on medicines for patients.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-and-nhs-boss-rewriting-history-on-disastrous-pfi

Continue ReadingGovernment and NHS boss ‘rewriting history’ on disastrous PFI

Fossil fuel industry accused of seeking special treatment over oilfield emissions

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/18/fossil-fuel-industry-accused-of-seeking-special-treatment-over-oilfield-emissions

Protests against the Rosebank oilfield in Edinburgh in 2024. Labour pledged in its manifesto to halt new North Sea licensing, but Rosebank was awaiting final approval when the party won the general election. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Lobbyists argued it was unfair for their industry to be treated the same as others as end product – oil and gas – inevitably produced emissions

Experts have accused the fossil fuel industry of seeking special treatment after lobbyists argued greenhouse gas emissions from oilfields should be treated differently to those from other industries.

The government is embroiled in a row over whether to allow a massive new oilfield, Rosebank, to go ahead, with some cabinet members arguing it could boost growth and others concerned it could make the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 impossible to reach. Labour made a manifesto commitment to halt new North Sea licensing, but Rosebank and some other projects had already been licensed and were awaiting final approval when the party won the general election.

Documents seen by the Guardian show the industry group Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) asking for Rosebank and other oilfields’ “scope three emissions” – those caused by the burning of extracted oil and gas – to be treated differently because that was the point of their business.

A court case recently found the licence granted to Rosebank by the previous government was unlawful as it failed to take these emissions into account.

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I am only able to quote a small section of this copyrighted article. See the original article at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/18/fossil-fuel-industry-accused-of-seeking-special-treatment-over-oilfield-emissions

Orcas are pleased that Rosebank and Jackdaw oil fields are blocked.
Orcas are pleased that Rosebank and Jackdaw oil fields are blocked.

Continue ReadingFossil fuel industry accused of seeking special treatment over oilfield emissions