22 May 2012
Responding to the draft Energy Bill published today, Joss Garman, senior energy campaigner for Greenpeace, said:
“This is an energy omnishambles. This draft law is bad news for people struggling to pay their household bills, bad news for the UK’s renewable energy industry and bad news for our attempts to tackle climate change.
“The government have missed a huge opportunity to get energy bills and carbon emissions under control, and to bring security to our power supplies. There’s a huge hole where the government should have encouraged energy efficiency measures. These would be the fastest and the cheapest way to bring down both bills and emissions.
“The government should also have backed our home-grown renewable energy industry, but instead this shambles of a bill will make it harder to invest in this important sector. Supporting this vital industry would boost the economy and reduce consumers’ exposure to rocketing gas prices.
“The coalition has decided to throw billions of pounds at the failing nuclear industry, which is going to send household bills even higher.
“The Bill’s failed by encouraging a big increase in our dependence on burning expensive imported gas to generate electricity. This too will increase bills for families and businesses and see money going to countries like Qatar and Norway instead of back into the British economy.”
ENDS
Greenpeace press office: 020 7865 8255
