Ed Miliband is weighing a major overhaul of the electricity market to cut the number of pylons across rural Britain by introducing regional pricing. The Telegraph has more.
The Energy Secretary has ordered electricity grid planners to examine whether fewer overhead wires would be required throughout the countryside if the power market were broken up, the Telegraph understands.
Sir Keir Starmer previously argued that building new pylons in rural areas was a necessary step to bring down the cost of electricity as part of the drive to reach net zero emissions by 2050. …
The decision to commission a Government study comes as Labour faces pressure in rural areas from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which has accused the Government of spoiling swathes of countryside with a “spider’s web” of pylons and cables.
In Lincolnshire, where Reform has seized control of the local mayoralty and the county council in May’s local elections, Mr Farage and his deputy, Richard Tice, have vowed to wage legal warfare against planned green energy projects. …
The National Energy System Operator (Neso) has estimated that £60 billion worth of upgrades are needed across the electricity network under Labour’s plan for a clean power system, including 4,000 miles of new undersea cables and another 1,000 miles of overland power lines.
This is expected to add up to £30 a year to consumer bills.
Neso has now been told to examine whether the scope of this work can be dramatically cut by switching to a regional, or so-called zonal, electricity pricing system.
This would see households pay different prices for electricity based on supply and demand in their area, in an effort to encourage investment in green power near to where it is needed most.
Zonal pricing supporters say this would cut down the distance between power stations and homes and businesses, lessening the need for cables spanning the country, while also lowering the cost of Net Zero as fewer cables would be needed.
Mr Miliband is understood to have already been shown an analysis by private sector consultants that claimed zonal pricing would result in savings of “tens of billions of pounds” and almost 2,000 fewer miles of wires.
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