Tony Jordan was asked his thoughts on the new Governments plans to introduce GB Energy and what this could mean to consumer bills in the UK.
Tony Jordan, senior partner at energy consultancy Auxilione, told i that GBE probably won’t directly affect household bills.
He said: “GBE is not going to be an energy company, as many appear to believe. It will not be a supplier to compete (or replace) the likes of British Gas for example as your domestic or commercial supplier.
“What GBE is, is an investment company helping to attract further investment into renewable projects. So alongside private investment, the UK government will also have a stake in such projects – in a bid to speed up delivery to get to more energy independence – although that’s only really true of electricity. It won’t directly impact bills but what it might be able to do is dilute some of the dependence on the wholesale market.”
But Mr Jordan said that unless the energy output from these renewable projects was sold to consumers or traders directly – via something known as a power purchase agreement – the most likely scenario was that it would be sold via the wholesale market, which would have a limited impact on bills.
The extra supply could bring down prices “in theory” and “achieve lower bills for all” according to Mr Jordan, but the risk is that the projects themselves are “expensive” and make future projects unattractive to investors, he said.
Others have agreed that the plans won’t significantly affect bills.
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