Not surprisingly, energy policies played a prominent role in the General Election.
The Conservatives’ manifesto pledged to promote competition as a means for keeping energy bills as low as possible for consumers. The party said that their work in government had aided the growth in independent suppliers from seven in 2010 to 21 at present.
The party confirmed its intention to support the ‘safe development’ of the UK’s shale gas potential. While supporting of renewables development, the Conservatives planned to abolish subsidies for new onshore wind, saying that the technology had failed to win public support.
Labour’s manifesto confirmed that the party would implement at 20-month energy price freeze, and that the energy regulator would be given the power to force firms to cut their prices from this winter.
These measures were argued to be necessary as a lack of competition and transparency had ‘allowed the large energy companies to get away with increasing bills when wholesale prices rise, but not cutting them when they fall’.
The Liberal Democrats’ focused on ‘Five Green Laws’ that would aim to safeguard the UK’s environment. It pledged a renewed focus on renewables, promising an indicative target for these technologies to hold 60% of the generation mix by 2030. Shale gas development would be subject to strict regulations and a decarbonisation target set for 2030 of 50-100g CO2/kWh
