But that BBC report manages not report at all something that Sky News do manage to report:The energy regulator Ofgem has launched a scathing attack on the record and profits of the big gas and electricity suppliers.Andrew Wright, the acting chief executive of Ofgem, said there was a "deep distrust of anything the energy companies do or say".
He also warned that Labour's proposed energy price freeze "puts at risk the proper functioning of the industry"So why are the BBC not reporting the full story? Can anyone persuade me that it's not just because they want to help their Labour allies along?
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Labour, which has pledged to introduce a regulator with greater teeth, came under fire from Mr Wright over its plan for a 20-month freeze to bills if it wins the 2015 general election.
Energy companies had previously warned such an intervention risked crucial investment in the country's energy infrastructure.
Following Ofgem's report on Monday analysing 2012 energy firm profits, industry body Energy UK argued the figures did not take into account the provision for securing energy supplies for the future.
Npower owner RWE confirmed on Tuesday that significant cost pressures had forced it to pull out of the massive £4bn Atlantic Array windfarm project.
Ed Miliband admitted in 2009 that his green taxes would have a direct negative effect on the cost of living.
When pushed by Andrew Marr about the impact of green measures “on the price of energy” and “the price of basic living necessities”, the then Energy Secretary replied: “there are upward pressures on prices, yes”:
Andrew Marr Show, July 13th 2009
AM: A very simple question when it comes to the price of energy, when it comes to the price of basic living necessities, it may not be £230-a-year as the Sunday Mirror says, but are we or are we not going to have to pay more.EM: There are upward pressures on prices, yes.
AM: Yes, the answer’s yes.Later that year at a speech in Poland, Miliband called for the world to “lose three months or six months of economic growth” to act on climate change immediately:Demos Europa talk at Warsaw School of Economics, October 7th 2009
“The costs of acting on climate change are something like 1% of national income, 1%-2% of national income, by 2050. So we can either lose three months or six months of economic growth, for the world, and act, or we face this huge risk in relation to the cost of adapting to climate change.”The speech came at the height of the economic crisis, yet as a government minister Miliband was advocating hitting growth in order to pursue climate change policies. In government Ed was happy to raise the cost of living for ideological reasons. This is Green Ed’s cost of living crisis.
Back when he was Energy Secretary, the Labour leader gave the LSE Ralph Miliband lecture. On November 19th 2009, he explicitly confirmed that his policies would see energy bills rise:That sentence should be put to Ed Miliband and every Labour spokesman when they make their fatuous claims to be in favour of cutting energy costs:
“It needs a willingness to take the argument to people about the tough choices involved in tackling climate change. This is the starting point: a willingness to engage with people on, for example, the fact that to deal with the problem of climate change, energy bills are likely to rise.”That same month Miliband told parliament:
“We need to be candid about the issue because it is a very big challenge. The pressures on energy prices will be upwards in the coming decade’”Most damning of all, in January 2010:
“Yes, there are upward pressures on energy bills, and that makes life difficult for people, including those in fuel poverty, but it is right that we go down the low-carbon energy route.”In his own words, Miliband says his policies would cause energy price rises. What was that about a cost of living crisis?
'I have been "banging on" for some years now about the upcoming shortage in power generation in the UK and the resulting power cuts. My warnings, like those re houses being over valued, were met with the usual "oh it's NotaSheep being his usual pessimistic self". This morning The Telegraph reports that:
"Britain is facing the prospect of widespread power cuts for the first time since the 1970s, government projections show.The way that this Labour government delayed making any decisions on power generation and have still failed to replace old generating capacity with new reliable generating capacity - wind power is not a reliable source of power - is frankly not just disgraceful but criminal. One of the many investigations that an incoming Conservative government will have to hold, will be into this neglect of the nation's power generating capacity; charges may have to be laid against "responsible" ministers.
Demand for power from homes and businesses will exceed supply from the national grid within eight years, according to official figures.
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The gap between Britain’s energy needs and demand throws fresh doubt on the Government’s assertion that renewable energy can make up for dwindling nuclear and coal capabilities.
Over the next 10 years, one third of Britain’s power-generating capacity needs to be replaced with cleaner fuels. But last night the Conservatives said that Labour had refused to face up to the problem.
The admission that Britain will face power-cuts is contained in a document that accompanied the Government’s Low Carbon Transition Plan, which was launched in July.
Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, outlined the plan amid much fanfare.
Under the plan, 40 per cent of the UK’s electricity will need to come from low-carbon energy sources including clean coal, nuclear and renewables.
Accompanying the report is an appendix, only published online, which warns of power shortages. It details supplies and expected demand between now and 2030.
It highlights the first short-fall in 2017. The “energy unserved” level reaches 3000 megawatt hours per year.
That is the equivalent of the whole of the Nottingham area being without electricity for a day.
By 2025 the situation worsens with the shortfall hitting 7000 megawatt hours per year. That is the equivalent to an hour-long power cut for half of Britain. "
In the meantime, as I advised you last October:"BUY A GENERATOR...
To paraphrase Sir Edward Grey "The lamps will be going out all over Britain; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."
This government's eco-stupidity seems to know no bounds, unless this is just another piece of scorched earth politics."'
'The risk of electricity blackouts will be at the highest level for six years this winter and even greater in subsequent years because of lack of investment in new power plants, according to National Grid.
The safety margin of the UK's power supply system has fallen in the past two years from 17 per cent above the level needed to cope in an "average cold spell" to 5 per cent.Lack of power supply provision means an increased risk of power blackouts - "No shit, Sherlock"
National Grid admitted that a prolonged period of low wind, common in cold spells, would push the margin even lower as output plummeted from the nation's 5,000 wind turbines... '
'Critics of wind power said turbines were flawed because they do not generate electricity when there is little wind,'Does that mean that supporters of wind power believe that wind turbines generate electricity when there's little wind?
The current capacity of wind power connected to the transmission system that we forecast for is 5.5GW (Jan 2013). This capacity is expected to continue to increase during 2013/14 and could reach 32GW of wind generation capacity by 2020.5.5GW, is that a lot?
' By 2020, it said, Britain must reduce its electricity use by "103 terawatt hours", rising by 2030 to "154 terawatt hours". This could have been understood only by someone aware that we currently use each year some 378 "terawatt hours". So what was being proposed was that this must be cut down in six years by 27 per cent – more than a quarter – rising 10 years later to a cut of more than 40 per cent, or two fifths.'The climate change obsession that will destroy our economy and lives, more here from Christopher Booker in The Telegraph
I must correct a rather serious error in this piece on such an important and complex subject. Although the amendment to the Government’s Energy Bill calling for a 27 percent reduction in Britain’s electricity use was bundled in with others, it was not a Government amendment, and although it was not formally withdrawn, it was not therefore part of the Bill as approved by the House. Later in the debate the minister, Greg Barker, did say that he “welcomed the principle behind the proposal’, but said that this issue should remain part of his Department’s ongoing review of how our electricity demand should be reduced. I apologise profusely to my readers for my misreading of what happened, which I will return to correct and explain in more detail in next week’s column.
'Coal + nuclear today providing 40% & 17% electricity. Both being phased out fast. Wind? A mere 0.3%. Are we heading for brown or black outs? -- Andrew Neil (@afneil)'I've been predicting this electricity generation shortage for quite a while now. Which is why I find it shocking that so many journalists are only just starting to wonder what the future holds for us.
'16 trillion cubic feet of gas—making it the world's biggest deepwater gas find in a decade, with enough reserves to supply Israel's gas needs for 100 years.'The Wall Street Journal has more details.
'Recent media reports citing information from China's electricity authority claimed that 64.5 million urban electricity meters registered zero electricity consumption over the past six months, equating to enough empty flats to house 200 million people.'
"The time of the homogenous nation-state is over…
The national and the European interest can no longer be separated; they coincide…
We have together to fight the danger of a new Euro-scepticism.
This is no longer the monopoly of a few countries.
In every Member State, there are people who believe their country can survive alone in the globalised world.
It is more than an illusion: it is a lie!"
'when the inhabitants of the remote Scottish island of Eigg put their faith in the wind and rain to provide all their electricity they did not reckon for one thing – mild weather.In a rational world it is stories like this that would make the proponents of 'green power' think again, but this is not a rational world and the environmentalists, greens and their supporters and evangelisers in the BBC will continue to push their agenda all the harder.
Now the 95 residents are being asked not to use kettles, toasters or other kitchen appliances after uncharacteristically mild weather caused a critical shortage of power.
Other household equipment such as washing machines are to be used only outside times of “peak” demand for the island’s 45 homes and 20 businesses.
Weeks of what passes for heatwave conditions in the Inner Hebrides have caused water levels on the island’s three main burns to drop uncharacteristically low, cutting off the island’s hydroelectricity supply.
The normally powerful Atlantic gusts in the tiny island south of Skye have also reduced to a pleasant breeze leaving the island’s wind turbines idle for hours on end.
As a result, the community owned power company has placed the island on “red alert” and issued notices effectively rationing electricity.
It has had to revert to using old-fashioned diesel power to run a backup generator to keep the lights on.
The shortages come only months after Eigg’s innovative renewable power grid won a share of a £1 million first prize in a nationwide competition to become model on how to tackle climate change. '
