British Gas, EOn, EDF and Octopus customers given date for £300 GB Energy bill cut
Customers with major energy suppliers including British Gas, EDF, EOn and EDF have been given a date they can expect a £300 GB Energy bills cut to start.
A publicly owned energy company, Great British Energy, is set to deliver cheaper gas and electricity bills for millions of UK households, Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed in a speech this morning.
The GB Energy scheme was part of Labour’s election manifesto and claimed that the scheme, to set up a publicly owned energy supplier, would deliver £400 of savings to energy customers with every energy firm, including British Gas, E.On, EDF, Octopus Energy, Ovo and other firms too.
This is because the state owned firm will build renewable energy supplies into the grid which the PM states will reduce reliance on ‘foreign dictators and fossil fuels’, thereby lowering bills.
In an update on the scheme, Labour gave an update on the timeline of the plans, which still need to go through Parliament to be ratified officially.
In a speech this morning, Keir Starmer said: “GB Energy will drive down bills,
“This will drive down bills, it gives us energy independence” because the UK currently relies on international markets which is why the energy prices have faced a harder hit than other countries, he said.
He added: “It will take time for this to develop it will take time before were able to get the benefits of clean power but that’s why were moving at pace.
“The best selling point for the general public is that “their bills will go down and they will go down not just for a short time, but for the long term.
Sir Keir Starmer said he stands by the figure from Labour’s manifesto suggesting that the party’s net zero energy plans would bring down household bills by £300 per year.
He added: “Yes I do – I stand by everything in my manifesto and one of the things I made clear in the election campaign is because I wouldn’t make a single promise or commitment that I didn’t think we could deliver in government and that’s why we carefully costed and funded everything in our manifesto.
“That does depend on early firm decisions being made, which is why we’ve set up GB Energy, why we’ve announced the partnership today with the Crown Estate and why the energy secretary has already taken action in week one in relation to onshore wind, in relation to solar energy and also pushing on with nuclear. So I stand by that commitment.
"What this brings us is lower bills, energy security, the next generation of jobs and of course an important contribution to our obligations in relation to the planet.”s.”
He added that the public have “paid the price” for the Tories’ negligence on energy, which he said left the UK more vulnerable than other countries when Russia invaded Ukraine.
“When Russia invaded Ukraine, we were left more exposed than other countries. And that meant (Vladimir) Putin pushed our bills up.
“Every family and every business has felt the impact of that. We’ve lost a decade of opportunity, missed chances to boost our energy security to cut bills and create good jobs.”
“People up and down the country have literally paid the price of that short sightedness. And we should be in no doubt. For as long as we remain reliant on foreign dictators for fossil fuels, this country will be exposed to future energy shocks like the one that we’ve just had.
“And as usual, it will be working people are hit hardest in this crisis.
“But now there is a massive prize within our reach. And make no mistake the race is on to get there. Until now I feel like we’ve been sort of tying up our link laces in the changing room.”
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has said “it’s going to take time” for GB Energy to start making money but that it should come within this government’s term and that bills should reduce “within a couple of years.”
He told the BBC: “Within a couple of years, as we build new onshore wind, new solar, we’ll start to see the effect on bills, but there are lots of things going on here. So our exposure to gas prices, which are set internationally, is something I don’t control.
“In a sense, the whole point of what I’m saying is we’ve got to get off that lack of control where dictators like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin control the fossil fuel market, because I can’t promise you what’s going to happen to gas prices.
“But I can say that, if we drive to clean, homegrown British energy, we will have much more control over what happens to bill
