Liz Truss is the next Prime Minister having secured nearly 57% of member votes, compared to Boris Johnson getting 66.4% of the vote in 2019.
In her winner’s speech, she said she wanted to take urgent decisions on how to avert Britain’s energy crisis.
So, what does the industry want her to do?
Energy Demand Strategy is needed
Mike Thornton, Chief Executive of Energy Saving Trust, said: ” With October’s energy price rises set to overtake existing support, we must see emergency measures that provide adequate assistance for those who cannot afford to pay their bills.
“We are also calling for an Energy Demand Strategy to enable households reduce their energy use through retrofit schemes.
“This could permanently reduce the energy bills of the UK’s most inefficient homes by an average of £1,000 a year and should also be supported by a national, impartial and tailored advice service which breaks down barriers to action.”
Renewables need to be accelerated
Dr Nina Skorupska CBE, Chief Executive of the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology said: “As we have warned throughout the leadership contest, knee jerk and ill-thought out cuts to renewable energy investment scheme will simply store up problems for the future and save relatively little in the short-term.
“To deliver an energy future that is independent,s secure and stable, we need to accelerate renewable energy deployment. That is how we solve this crisis.”
More emergency money for people this winter
Simon Francis, Co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “If the new Prime Minister is serious about dealing with energy bills and the long term issues of energy supply, the government must back plans for lower energy bills now and in the future.
“That means more emergency money for people this winter, funding to help everyone cut their bills with better insulation, and a rapid move away from expensive gas and onto cheaper, renewable energy.”
Underspending on environmental protection is not an option
In a statement, Greenpeace UK said: “As Environment Secretary she oversaw cuts to nature protection worth almost a quarter of a billion pounds.
“We are in a climate crisis. Spending less on environmental protections is not an option.”
RenewableUK has urged the new Prime Minister Liz Truss to speed up the rollout of new renewable energy projects to help billpayers and boost the nation’s energy security.
Recommitment to Energy Security Strategy
RenewableUK’s Chief Executive Officer Dan McGrail said: “Firstly, it’s vital that she should re-commit to the ambitious targets set out in the government’s Energy Security Strategy, which will move us further and faster towards energy independence.
“That means more than quadrupling our offshore wind capacity to 50GW by 2030 – including 5GW of innovative floating wind.
“We need to remove the barriers in the planning system which are unnecessarily delaying offshore wind development and upgrade our grid so that we can connect new offshore projects more quickly.”
