Energy Consumers To Pay For £25bn Green Energy Plan
By Paul Homewood
Spend £25 billion to save £20 a year. That sounds like a bargain!!
The energy watchdog has announced new plans to transform the UK’s gas power network, upgrading it to be more “green” and potentially saving Brits an average of £20 a year on their energy bills.
Ofgem, the energy regulator, on Thursday published plans to invest £25bn ($32bn) over five years to develop more “clean” gas energy network the UK. The investment will go into the infrastructure that transports energy around the UK.
The plan would be paid for by energy companies themselves. The regulator has proposed doubling a cap on how much money energy firms can return to their investors and reducing firm’s spending plans to ensure costs do not rise for consumers.
Ofgem estimates the average gas bill would in fact fall by £20 per year at the start of its transformation plan.
“Ofgem is working to deliver a greener, fairer energy system for consumers,” chief executive Jonathan Brearley said in a statement.
“This is why we are striking a fair deal for consumers, cutting returns to the network companies to an unprecedented low level while making room for around £25bn of investment needed to drive a clean, green and resilient recovery.
“Now more than ever, we need to make sure that every pound on consumers’ bills goes further. Less of your money will go towards company shareholders, and more into improving the network to power the economy and to fight climate change.”
If you read the small print however, the £20 a year saving only applies at the start of its transformation plan.
By the time the plan is completed, households will have paid out about £1000 each to fight climate change. As the plan covers five years, that works out at £200 a year.
We are not told exactly what this will cover, but we know it only covers power transmission and gas distribution. Plans for electricity distribution will be announced later, and will doubtless cost billions more.
None of this money includes the cost of subsidising renewables, which is accounted for separately. Presumably it will cover grid enhancements necessary for accommodating renewable energy, and I suspect preparation for a hydrogen grid.
What is certain though is that this £25 billion is loose change, compared to the eventual cost to be placed on consumers. By doing it piecemeal in this way, OFGEM is hoping that nobody will notice the true impact on their energy bills.
By Paul Homewood
More misinformation from the Met Office:
As the planet warms, the intensity, frequency and duration of extreme weather events such as heatwaves and heavy rainfall is expected to increase.
Met Office Insist Their “Record Rainfall” Claim Is Justified- But Their Own Evidence Shows This To Be Untrue
By Paul Homewood.
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The controversy over the Met Office’s “record rainfall” claim refuses to die down!
One reader challenged the Met Office over this, and received this reply. His questions are in bold:
BBC Worry That 1.5C Target Might Be Breached
By Paul Homewood
h/t Philip Bratby/Robin Guenier
The World Meteorological Organisation says there’s a growing chance that global temperatures will break the 1.5C threshold over the next five years, compared to pre-industrial levels.
It says there’s a 20% possibility the critical mark will be broken in any one year before 2024.
But the assessment says there’s a 70% chance it will be broken in one or more months in those five years.
Scientists say that keeping below 1.5C will avoid the worst climate impacts.
The target was agreed by world leaders in the 2015 Paris climate accord accord.
They committed to pursue efforts to try to keep the world from warming by more than 1.5C this century.
This new assessment, carried out by the UK’s Met Office for the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), says there’s a growing chance that this level will be breached.
Researchers say that the Earth’s average annual temperature is already more than 1C higher than it was in the 1850s – and will probably stay around this level over the next five years.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53342806
The rest of the article is the usual load of drivel from Matt McGrath, including the absurd claim that there will be more storms over western Europe thanks to rising sea levels. What on earth do rising sea levels have to do with storms?
New Study finds no evidence of a ‘signal of human-caused climate change’ from weather extremes
By Paul Homewood
Roger Pielke Jr brings news of the imminent publication of his latest paper:
https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/1280576376836206592
Pielke has written many papers over the years, which have come to similar conclusions. What is significant about this one is that he has reviewed studies by other authors.
By Paul Homewood
A timely intervention by Dr John Constable:
Hydrogen is dangerous; hydrogen is safe; hydrogen is cheap; hydrogen is very expensive; hydrogen is old hat; hydrogen is the future. Hydrogen is… all things to all men, and every one of these contradictory claims is more or less true from some perspective. Whatever hydrogen is, it is a very buoyant gas and makes for the perfect climate political football. Indeed, the authentic promise of hydrogen is rapidly becoming the victim of failing green policies.
By Paul Homewood
h/t Mr GrimNasty
Facebook censors strike!
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1280598424174292992
Not for the first time, Facebook have acted on the request of a fake Factcheck from climate activists.
Readers may recall a similar occurrence a few months ago, when Facebook objected to an article about the Australian bushfires. which originated from the NSW firefighters association. As with this one, Facebook were acting upon a “Factcheck” from an outfit called Climate Feedback.
As I showed at the time, the “Factcheck” was totally erroneous. At the time, I wrote to Climate Feedback and asked them to retract, as this was the only way Facebook were prepared to reverse their objection. I received no reply.
No surprise then that the censorship of Shellenberger this time is the result of a “Factcheck” from the same Climate Feedback group.
Mike Shellenberger gives a lot more detail in his twitter feed, linked above.
By Paul Homewood
The GWPF react to a new call for crippling carbon taxes from a green lobby group:
The green lobbyists and campaigners making up the self-described “Zero Carbon Commission” [1] are proposing the immediate introduction of carbon taxation in key sectors of the economy, several of which have not previously been deeply affected by climate policies.
For example, the proposed levels of carbon tax would put about £3 billion a year on domestic gas and oil heating bills, exacerbating an already serious Fuel Poverty problem.
The electricity sector, where green subsidies to renewables already cost consumers over £10 billion a year, would see a carbon tax burden of about £2.5 billion per year, wiping out any saving made possible from leaving the EU and its Emissions Trading Scheme.
To add insult to injury, the “Commission” suggests that this carbon tax revenue should be used to pay for a resumption of subsidies to new renewable generators, incidentally giving the lie to the widely disseminated claim that renewables are now economically viable without subsidy.
Climate policies have hitherto steered clear of agriculture, but the Commission’s proposed greenhouse gas taxes would cost UK farmers approximately £300m a year, and they would also lose the fuel duty exemption on red diesel.
With staggering cynicism the “Commission” notes that all these costs and burdens on the national food supply “could be passed on to consumers, creating increased incentives to adopt lower carbon diets”.
Industry and commerce would also be affected, with SME gas consumption being hit hard for the first time. The total burden for non-energy intensive commercial users would be in the region of £2 billion a year.
Dr Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Forum said:
Since this proposal was authored by a PR company you might have expected some political nous, but this scheme for carbon taxes puts a huge burden on households and businesses. Adopting it would be political suicide for any government, particularly Boris Johnson’s government as it struggles to restore the economy.
It probably seemed great at a dinner party in Islington; it won’t go down so well in the Red Wall constituencies.”
Notes for Editors
[1] In spite of its name the Zero Carbon Commission is not an official body. Its membership includes John Sauven, the Executive Director of Greenpeace UK, Georgia Berry the communications Director of OVO, the UK’s second largest electricity and gas retailer, Baroness Bryony Worthington the climate campaigner, Professor Fankhauser of the Grantham Institute on Climate Change, Professor Ekins of the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas of the banking pressure group the Green Finance Institute, as well Lord Turner, former Chair of the Committee on Climate Change, and Nick Butler, a former BP Vice President under Lord Browne. The report was authored by a PR company, Public First, and is available from their website: http://www.publicfirst.co.uk/new-report-for-the-zeroc-commission.html
https://www.thegwpf.com/boris-warned-that-tone-deaf-carbon-taxes-risk-poll-tax-fiasco/
By Paul Homewood
Guido exposes the latest hypocrisy from an ex Lib Dem Energy Secretary!
Despite running on a very green leadership platform, Sir Ed Davey has continued pocketing thousands from a couple who make their money from renting out 23,000 private jet flights a year.
After Guido discovered last week that 80% of Layla Moran’s leadership funds coming from European royalty, it’s only fair to give Davey’s dosh the same scrutiny. Over the last year, Sir Ed has pocketed £16,500 from Chris and Tina Leach, the duo behind private jet rental company Air Charter. As Guido previously reported, he’s been taking their cash for seven years…
Davey’s LibDem leadership platform is centred around a £150 billion “Green Revolution”. In a video on his campaign website, Davey tells LibDem members:
“Too many political leaders would let us sleepwalk into a global catastrophe. Boris Johnson and Donald Trump have never cared about the Climate Emergency… we owe it to our children and grandchildren to fight for our planet”
Sir Ed also accuses Boris and Trump of serving those with vested interests in pollution. Davey’s clearly more than au fait with polluting private punters…
https://order-order.com/2020/07/06/eco-davey-still-pocketing-thousands-from-private-jet-company/
Davey’s predecessor as Energy Secretary, of course, was the convicted criminal Chris Huhne. Huhne, after getting out of jail, landed a plum job as Chairman of Ziklha Biomass – Europe.
Zilkha produce wood pellets from trees harvested in Alabama forests, and Huhne is responsible for developing business from biomass businesses in Europe. The fact that Huhne himself actively pursued policies promoting the biomass industry prior to being locked up is, naturally, pure coincidence!
The West v The Rest Reposted
By Paul Homewood
For those who were unable to access Robin Guenier’s essay, I have downloaded it as a PDF on the link below:
