New research from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has found that the UK government achieved just three out of ten major commitments laid out in the 2022 British Energy Security Strategy.
The analysis found that the government is not on track to insulate the 450,000 homes it had committed to, which would reduce energy waste and, therefore, the need to import foreign gas.
Also, despite committing to holding auctions to agree on new offshore wind farms annually, since the report, it has only managed to secure two new offshore wind farms and none at the last auction in 2023.
Although it increased and extended the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), which led to a significant surge in applicants, the government delayed the Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM), which provides boiler manufacturers with heat pump sales targets.
The CHMM was announced in December 2023 as a scheme that would require heat pump installations to make up 4% of boiler manufacturer sales in the first year, increasing to 6% in the mechanism’s second year.
The scheme’s implementation was initially scheduled for April 2024, but fears that the CHMM could be scrapped when reports of increasing gas boiler prices caused by a phantom boiler tax – said to be caused by the CHMM – surfaced earlier this year, causing its 12-month delay.
Moreover, as per the plan’s commitment to more North Sea oil and gas, the government is currently putting a Bill through Parliament to force the regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority, to hold auctions for new oil and gas drilling in the sea to be held annually, but the regulator itself has described the move as “unnecessary”.
Overall, industry figures show that “energy production has fallen by two-thirds since 2000, while demand has dropped by only a third – moving Britain from a net exporter of energy to a significant net importer”.
In 2022, more than 40% of the UK’s energy was imported, predominantly from Norway and the US, and the UK spent £3.5 billion importing electricity from Europe via interconnectors.
“The UK has had two energy security strategies within two years, and we’re still going backwards, becoming more dependent on foreign imports. As a country, we’ve spent more than £100 billion on gas over the crisis, with the billpayer and taxpayer bearing the brunt,” said Jess Ralston, energy analyst at the ECIU.
She added: “The PM’s U-turning on insulation standards and heat pumps is leaving the UK less energy independent. And his government’s policy failures in securing new offshore wind farms mean the UK could miss out on twenty-two times more homegrown electricity than could be generated by gas from new North Sea licences.”
