Over-turning the ban may be a cause célèbre for the free market right. But any genuine effort to tackle our energy security problem is going to require both a massive programme of spending and the clunking fist of central government.
Combined with windfall taxes on both fossil fuel and renewable energy generation, Britain’s business tax regime is getting less, not more, competitive.
Action on decarbonising heat so far is not nearly sufficient to meet our 2050 net zero target. But a potential solution is right under our noses.
It would achieve real competition, incentivise efficiency and bring prices down for the majority (companies would be forced to compete for new customers or wither fast).
Plus: The Labour leader’s other Brighton speech: “It was a full-blown Marxist rant. Put up taxes. Employers are evil. You know the sort of thing. They lapped it up.”
A ‘relative’ cap on the difference between standard variable tariffs and acquisition tariffs could untie Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ in the retail energy market.
The lobbyists would hate a relative cap, because there would be less lobbying to do. Putting customers in the driving seat means fewer fat fees, and fat lunches.
The merits of promoting heat pumps as the valid, logical alternative to gas boilers are two-fold: the moral argument of creating warmer, more liveable homes for Britons at a cheaper price, whilst also providing green growth.