In a challenging year for the north-east of Scotland, where concerns are mounting for the future of the oil and gas industry following the latest increase in windfall tax at the Budget this week, the prospect of Great British Energy being established in Aberdeen offers a shaft of light.
But what is GB Energy and, crucially, what difference will it make to our fuel bills?
The creation of GB Energy was a key manifesto pledge of the Labour Party prior to the General Election in July. It has been held up as a key driver of Labour’s clean energy mission to decarbonise the UK’s electricity production by 2030.
Following the sharp rise in energy prices which followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, hopes have emerged that the development of the publicly owned company will play a major role in bringing down household bills.
However, GB Energy, which will be backed by £8.3 billion of public cash, will not be a conventional energy supplier. Instead, its role will be to harness investment in clean energy projects, to support the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy systems.
Read more:
- Should Rangers court Scotch whisky chief as investor?
- 'Tennent’s had a pretty outstanding six month period'
- Mr Singh's in Glasgow launches curry at city cash and carry
The launch of GB was broadly welcomed when it was announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in September.
However, organisations such as Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, which have issued grave warnings about the impact of the windfall tax on the north-east economy, continue to emphasise the importance of transitioning gradually from fossil fuels to the energy systems of the future. And it insists, the skills built up in the North Sea over recent decades must be used and adapted to serve the development of the renewables the UK will need into the future.
Speaking at the time of the launch of GB Energy, AGCC chief executive Russell Borthwick declared that “we do not need to kill off one industry to grow another – in fact, the opposite is true, as one cannot exist without the other”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel