Energy CEOs undermine Miliband: high bills baked in
For immediate release
Two of the UK’s top energy executives have today shattered key assumptions behind the Government’s Net Zero agenda during testimony to the Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee.
Chris Norbury, CEO of E.ON UK said:
Some of the modelling we have suggests that you could get to a position by 2030 where if the wholesale price was zero, bills would still be the same as where they are today because of the increase in non-commodity costs.”
He pointed to legacy policy charges – including the Feed-in Tariff, Renewable Obligation and Climate Change Levy – as structural drivers of high electricity costs.
Simone Rossi, CEO of EDF UK, went further, questioning not just the policy design, but the fundamental assumptions driving the entire transition. Challenging the Committee Chairman’s projections for demand growth, he said:
We are building infrastructure as if there was more demand, but in reality there is less and less demand. So you have a bigger burden on smaller shoulders... Today, electricity demand is 8% less than it was in 2019 pre-Covid.”
Maurice Cousins, Campaign Director for Net Zero Watch, commented:
These are damning admissions from two of the most senior figures in the UK energy sector. They confirm what we’ve been warning for years: Net Zero is driving permanent structural inflation into energy bills - regardless of fossil fuel prices. This isn’t a temporary shock. It’s baked into the system. Even if gas were free, electricity prices will remain high by 2030.
Mr Rossi’s comments also expose another of Ed Miliband’s myths: that electrification via Clean Power 2030 will bring economies of scale. In reality, falling demand and forced electrification are creating a mismatch - more infrastructure, fewer users, and higher per-unit costs. This is energy planning by wishful thinking, not physical reality.”
Net Zero Watch is calling for a halt of the Clean Power 2030 programme and urgent reform of the legacy levies that are making electricity unaffordable for households and businesses alike.
ENDS