Energy secretary Amber Rudd has said the UK can become “a home for energy innovation” and has pledged to support businesses working on new energy efficiency technologies.
Rudd delivered an address to this week’s Conservative Party Conference in Manchester to defend her party’s much-maligned energy policy, which has seen a number of clean energy initiatives cut without replacement since May’s general election.
But Rudd shrugged off the criticism to claim that the department was undertaking a “root and branch review” of the country’s energy policies, before lauding the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s measures to boost energy efficiency.
“We are rolling out smart meters to help put households and businesses in control of their energy. Bills will be instant and accurate. We will help keep people’s bills down by delivering our promise to insulate a million more homes over the next five years. And we are also determined to make sure the most vulnerable households are those most protected,” Rudd said.
Rudd’s speech comes little more than a fortnight since Committee on Climate Change chairman Lord Deben wrote to the government imploring it to replace support schemes such as the Green Deal and Zero Carbon Homes initiative “as soon as policy”, warning of a “policy gap” which was creating uncertainty in the market.
Rudd has continually referenced replacement policies in the pipeline and teased that more information would be forthcoming this autumn, however she did not offer any insight into what could be announced this afternoon.
Instead she talked up the importance of new and emerging energy technologies, stating that the government “needs energy breakthroughs” and “has a part to play in supporting them”, adding: “We must celebrate and back the businesses and innovators who will transform our energy system.”
