A partnership to deliver growth
Our organisations represent businesses across the breadth of the energy sector which, together, employ around 1 in 23 people across the UK and generate more than £260 billion in economic activity. While our associations represent different parts of the energy sector, we are united in our view. The energy transition will only succeed if it is practical, fair and felt by the public as a source of better jobs, stronger communities and lower bills.
More than £100 billion has been committed by the private sector into clean energy since July 2024 – bolstered by Labour’s energy ambitions – but industry is ready and willing to go further. The prize is an electrified economy, better access to low-carbon fuels, more stable prices and far greater energy, industrial and economic security.
Reduce the cost of electricity
For too many households and businesses, electricity is still too expensive. That is not just an energy issue. It is a cost-of-living, competitiveness and fairness issue. If we want people and businesses to choose cleaner technologies, electricity must become more affordable.
In the long term, investment in clean power will reduce our dependence on volatile fossil fuels and lead to more stable bills. But households and businesses need cheaper energy today. Working with industry, the Government should pursue all opportunities to reduce the cost of electricity. This includes reconsidering how to fairly balance the costs that sit on the energy bill, or general taxation, in order to fund essential energy infrastructure.
It also means backing electrification, smart assets and energy efficiency, so households and businesses can use electricity when it is cheapest and most plentiful, and take advantage of the benefits of technologies including heat pumps, electric vehicles, smart tariffs, storage and better-insulated buildings.
Keep the energy transition on course
The move to a cleaner energy system is not an optional extra. It is central to Britain’s future security, prosperity and resilience. Our energy system needs updating – and that means getting on with the practical work.
It also means taking people with us, being honest about the choices involved and making sure the transition is done with communities, not to them. People across the country understand this, with recent polling showing support for the energy transition playing a greater role in national security, and the need for long-term infrastructure investment, regardless of voting intention. The next Government, working with industry, will have an important role in making the case for this transition.
Maintain investor confidence
Britain will not build the energy system it needs by good intentions alone. It will take sustained private investment, delivered over many years, in every nation and region of the UK. That investment will come only if the UK is seen as a stable, serious and competitive place to put capital to work.
The UK energy sector is ready to play its part. We would welcome the opportunity to meet the new Government at an early roundtable to discuss how we can work together to lower electricity costs, accelerate clean power, support electrification and energy efficiency, maintain investor confidence and build the energy system Britain needs for long-term growth.
