Will Jones writes for the Daily Sceptic about the negative impact of Britain’s pursuit of a misguided environmental goal.
The cackhanded pursuit of Net Zero by Ed Miliband and his predecessors has left Britain having to pay France and other countries to take excess power off our hands for a significant portion of the year. …
… It’s the Ed Miliband paradox: why does Britain have among the highest power prices in Europe when we have so much electricity that suppliers have to pay customers to use it?
It was a question repeated across the energy industry last week after power prices briefly turned negative, meaning customers and countries abroad were paid to use surplus electricity generated in Britain rather than having to pay for it.
It meant free energy for some consumers to use as they pleased – to charge their electric vehicles (EVs) or simply make a cup of tea – and saw Britain offloading the rest to the likes of France and Holland, not just free but with a chunky payment attached.
This might sound like an oddity, but it was far from the first time. So far this year, Britain has seen around 50 hours of negative prices. Last year, the amount totalled 150 hours – a sevenfold increase since 2021, according to Aurora Energy.
By 2028, UK prices could be below zero for 15% of the year – more than 1,300 hours, LCP Delta says.
The reason is that Britain is generating too much energy, resulting in a surplus that must be absorbed for the power system to function properly.
The obvious answer would seem to be switching them off. But in Britain, the system for connecting solar power and some wind means they are always on. Our nuclear stations are also difficult to ramp up and down.
Companies such as Octopus have turned the situation to their advantage. Its Agile tariff allows customers to take advantage of ‘plunge pricing’, with the company paying customers, by knocking money off their bills, to use electricity at quieter times of the week.
France, Belgium, Holland, Ireland and Norway also benefit, with the surplus sent abroad via the network of subsea cables linking the UK.
