Angela Knight: Britain faces a new energy ‘trilemma’

The head of Energy UK believes Britain is now facing a new three-pronged dilemma in the industry – Who pays? How much? And for what? Speaking at the Energy Live […]

The head of Energy UK believes Britain is now facing a new three-pronged dilemma in the industry – Who pays? How much? And for what?

Speaking at the Energy Live 2013 conference yesterday, Angela Knight said the energy ‘trilemma’ of decarbonisation, security of supply and the cost of energy has been replaced. She believes the UK needs to now work out “who pays, how much and for what”.

Ms Knight said getting energy bills right “should be easy” and that in some respects, the industry needs to “work back a bit from the bill rather than forward only from generation”. She insisted the energy industry “has to invest and has to change”.

When asked about the impact of Scottish independence on prices, Ms Knight said there is no intention of breaking up the UK energy market: “I don’t think anyone imagines a separate Scottish energy market and English energy market.”

On what she would do if she was appointed Energy Secretary for a day, Ms Knight said: “I would bring in a mixture of independent experts and I would bring in the industry and I would get out on the table all the pieces that make up the costs that run through the system.

“I would decide what was considered to be affordable and I would then work out how it was that we manage to do the investment and maintain that essential affordability for people. So it would take me more than a day but it would have to take me less than three weeks and I think the information is there to do it… This is the time we really must look in detail collectively right across the piece to get to the right answers.”

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