Overview Of The UK's Energy Security Bill

What it means for Brits

You can get access to the UK government’s vast trove of documents relating to the bill here, although The Daily Beagle will be attempting to summarise the changes.

Factsheet:

From the pre-face factsheet, the key points of action noted are:

• £37 billion support package

• Changes to the National Insurance Contribution threshold (unspecified)

• Funding for kooky ‘carbon capture’ technologies

• Funding for a CO2 transport and storage network

• Doubles down on the inefficient heat pumps

• Major: UK is legislating to adopt fusion power

• Variety of protections for consumers (from mergers; price rises)

• Setting security standards on “Smart” devices

• “Reducing the number of cabling, landing points, and substations” - err, what?

• Encouraging batteries and pumped hydro storage by removing bureaucratic measures

• Ofgem appointed as regulator for “heat networks”

• Developing “heat networks” (no, we don’t know what they are either)

• Replacing EU regulations with British ones

• Defence of the oil supply

• Encourage investment by private firms into nuclear power

• Clean up nuclear sites; build a below ground “disposal” site

• Apply higher environmental standards to offshore oil and gas wells

• Ensuring polluters pay for pollution from decommissioned works

• De-licencing, clean-up and re-use of nuclear sites.

Other Documents:

• Code Governance: Something something Net Zero

• Competition in Onshore Electricity Networks: Something something Net Zero

• Core Fuel Resilience: The power to tell producers to make specific fuels deemed priority. Also subsidies.

• Defining Electricity Storage: Defines storage as something 'energy that was converted from electricity and is stored for the purpose of its future reconversion into electricity'

• Enabling the Hydrogen Village Trial: Enables a Hydrogen Village Trial. Also permits forceful entry.

• Energy Company Obligation (ECO) Buy-out Mechanism: Energy companies obliged to upgrade poor people’s homes with eco-s**t, then charge them through the energy billing for it.

• Energy Network Special Merger Regime: Requires the CMA (Competitions and Market Authority) to double-check energy mergers won’t compromise Ofgem’s impartiality. (Actually a pretty sensible proposal if you ask me)

• Fusion Regulation: Regulates Fusion Energy.

• Future System Operator: Basically: ‘what if we had someone actually plan out our utilities network in advance?’

• Heat Networks Regulation and Zoning: Ofgem can intervene on “heat networks” and set price caps. Also a “Heat Network Zoning Pilot Programme” in 28 English cities and towns.

• Offshore Oil and Gas Decommissioning Cost Recovery: Improve cost recovery from polluters ‘somehow’; please consult pretty please.

• Smart Metering: Sets annual targets for companies to force these upon the unwilling public.

• Regulation of Load Control and Energy Smart Appliances: Permits utility companies to remote control your “smart” devices. Government controls these “load controllers”. Also sets standardisation of parts and devices.

There were a few other documents but judging by their subtitles, not of particular interest to the general public.

What It Means For Brits

Higher prices, as you pay for the “upgrades” to your house, more control devolved to third parties and the government, more “smart” meter spyware in your home, a pithy single “rebate” for a bill that has doubled permanently, some more bats**t carbon policies (at a time of unaffordability and crisis, really?) meaning higher taxes, a couple of kooky schemes, forcing people to use only one type of inefficient heat pump (it does not work efficiently in the cool temperatures of our moderate climate), widing regulations, maybe some fusion (not that they can get fission working).

Oh and they recognised oil was a national security interest, I guess?

So, basically, a kick in the balls for Brits.

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