For too long, our energy bills have followed an unfair rule: the high and volatile cost of gas has dictated the price of our electricity, even if that electricity came from much cheaper renewables.
Last week, the government finally listened to our calls for change. They announced a new policy to start delinking gas and electricity prices.
This is a massive win for everyone who uses electricity. It means that when fossil fuel prices spike, like we’re seeing right now with the conflict in Iran, your electricity bills won’t automatically skyrocket along with them. We’ve started to break the chains that bind our wallets to global gas markets.
How we did it: People power vs. Big Gas
This victory was built by tens of thousands of us who refused to accept the Great Gas Rip Off.
While energy executives have been making huge sums and profiting off wars, we have been taking action together. Over 60,000 people signed the petition, sending a clear message to Westminster. Greenpeace volunteers all over the country took the fight to the heart of their communities by:
- Handing out 5,000 beer mats explaining how gas is responsible for the high price of electricity in pubs and chatting with pub landlords
- Chatting with the local community on stalls
- Plastering posters and bus stop ads across the country to make sure MPs couldn’t look the other way.
From a huge protest at the Staythorpe Gas Power Station to political conversations in the halls of the Labour Party conference, we made sure the message was everywhere.
Our public campaigning was supported by our report, Power Shift. This report explained the problem and set out our proposed solution. It gave the government and supportive MPs the facts they needed to champion our cause and solve the issue.
What exactly changed?
In the UK, the most expensive power source sets the price for all electricity. Most of the time, that expensive source is gas. This means even when the vast majority of our electricity comes from cheap renewable energy, even a tiny top-up of gas can make the whole bill expensive. As we move away from fossil fuels and expand renewables, this old system has kept our prices unfairly high.
Many new renewable projects sit outside of this complicated pricing system – years ago, the government started giving new renewable projects ‘set prices’ for their energy so they wouldn’t be affected by fluctuating fossil fuel prices. Now, they are moving older renewable and nuclear plants into this same system. This means that more electricity than ever is capped at set prices, meaning less of the electricity we need to meet demand will be affected by high and volatile gas prices.
Is it perfect? Not yet.
The good
It creates a shield against future price shocks.
It makes our energy system more stable.
The not-so-good
The government took the path of least resistance. This policy will most likely stabilise bills to shield us from future shocks rather than lowering them immediately.
It will also allow gas companies to continue charging what they like for their electricity and pull in huge profits.
What now?
We’ve shown that the government will move if we push hard enough. Now, let’s keep the pressure on to ensure the future of UK energy is 100% renewable and 100% affordable.