Two of Britain’s biggest utilities have formed a new campaign group in a push to lower energy bills, reduce CO2 emissions and accelerate the transition to electric vehicles (EVs).
EDF and Octopus Energy have created Electrify Britain, an organisation which will push the newly installed Labour government to make major changes to the UK’s energy systems by focusing on four key priorities: making electricity pricing fair, electrifying home heat, electrifying transport and electrifying communities.
In order to reduce energy bill costs for consumers, Electrify Britain is calling for the government to reduce the burden of policy costs – levies that support low-carbon power generation, energy efficiency initiatives and vulnerable customers – as a percentage of electricity bills. Policy costs currently comprise around 17% of the average electricity bill compared to 6% of gas bills. The organisation suggests that these policy costs could be reallocated to other sources – including to gas – in order to encourage investment into electrification.
Electrify Britain will also work to promote the benefits of home heat pumps in order to encourage consumers to move away from gas boilers, while rapidly rolling out cheaper heat pumps to replace gas boilers. The development of cheaper heat pumps has been a focus of Octopus Energy for some time now, having launched the Cosy 6 heat pump in September last year. Electrify Britain is also urging that the installation of gas boilers in new-build homes comes to an immediate end.
To aid the public transition to EVs, the organisation will also support the expansion of public charging and other EV infrastructure as well as providing specialised tariffs to make EV ownership an affordable option for more people.
Finally, Electrify Britain will seek to implement community energy projects to grant energy independence to local communities, including boosting the rate of rooftop solar installations. By encouraging local generation, the group hopes to boost the wellbeing of local communities.
Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy said: “Our businesses deal with millions of customers, and we know that when households go electric, they never look back because it’s cheaper and better.
“There’s been so much focus on electrifying generation, but not enough on electrifying end use, where customers can make significant savings. Electric cars on a smart tariff cost seven times less per mile than a petrol car. People with heat pumps usually pay less than those with gas boilers and they rate their heat pump higher. It’s time for us to seize the benefits of electrification for British customers.”
Simone Rossi, CEO of EDF in the UK, added: “We are launching a joint campaign because there is no time to wait. Britain’s energy market is still fragile to external shocks and at the same time, we are seeing the impacts of climate change. We need more electricity but less CO2, we need to Electrify Britain.
“The first priority is to make electricity pricing fair by rebalancing policy costs, and the second is to ensure new homes are green and electric from day one. The future is electric, and we need to act now.”
