{"id":349866,"date":"2024-11-02T09:34:05","date_gmt":"2024-11-02T08:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=349866"},"modified":"2024-11-02T09:34:07","modified_gmt":"2024-11-02T08:34:07","slug":"ed-milibands-net-zero-department-given-22-more-cash-to-waste-on-green-energy-unicorns-and-other-budget-horrors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=349866","title":{"rendered":"Ed Miliband\u2019s Net Zero Department Given 22% More Cash to Waste on Green Energy Unicorns \u2013 and Other Budget Horrors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0David Turver<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it is relatively thin gruel, there were some positive announcements about energy in the Budget Statement<\/a>. First and foremost, the Chancellor chose to keep the temporary 5p per litre fuel duty cut for another year and the planned increase in 2025-26 will be cancelled. The Government claims this measure will lead to a saving of \u00a359 in 2025-26 for the average driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the sadistic activist zealots at Carbon Brief<\/a> are up in arms about it, lamenting the \u201ccost\u201d to Government of freezing the fuel duty since 2011 (Figure 1).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Figure 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Of course, they omit to mention that fuel duty brought in<\/a> nearly \u00a325 billion in 2022, so we already levy huge taxes on fuel, making it more expensive for people to travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second piece of good news was the announcement of additional funding for Sizewell C. The Government claims it has provided \u00a32.7 billion of funding to continue the project through 2025-26, but it is not quite clear how much of this is new money. However, the final investment decision on whether to proceed with the project will be taken during the Phase 2 spending review, due to complete in late spring 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final piece of good news is that the Chancellor has allocated \u201conly\u201d \u00a3125 million to GB Energy (GBE) in 2025-26, limiting the damage it can do. Ministers say that as GB Energy is established the investment activity will be undertaken by the National Wealth Fund (NWF). However, it has only allocated \u00a35 million to NWF in 2025-26, rising to \u00a350 million in 2027-28. Interestingly, both figures are only a tiny fraction of the annual average of spending on GBE of \u00a31.7bn and \u00a31.5bn on NWF promised in Labour\u2019s manifesto<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, the list of bad news items is somewhat longer. The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero is going to see a massive increase in overall funding of 22% per year out to 2025-26 (see Figure 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure 2 \u2013 Massive Spending Increase for DESNZ in Budget 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The vast majority of this extra spending is on capital items, much of which will be squandered on thermodynamic abominations like Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) and green hydrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labour also plans to spend at least \u00a33.4 billion on household heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency. In plain terms, this means keeping the increased subsidies for heat pumps and spending on insulation measures. Most of these insulation measures have payback periods measured in centuries, and some have payback periods further away from today than the Roman occupation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a further \u00a31 billion planned for hundreds of local energy schemes to decarbonise the public estate. For this read more solar panels on council buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, the Budget 2024 bad news keeps on coming because the OBR has also delivered an updated estimate<\/a> of the costs of environmental levies. These include the costs of the Renewables Obligations and Contracts for Difference subsidy schemes plus the cost of the capacity market, green gas levy and the Renewables Heat Incentive. The summary results, showing the progression from March 2023 through to October 2024 are shown in Figure 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure 3 \u2013 Change in Environmental Levies Mar 23-Oct 24 (\u00a3bn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The latest figures show overall green levies are forecast to rise from about \u00a311 billion in 2023-24 to a peak of \u00a316.4 billion in 2026-27, before falling back to \u00a315.5 billion in 2027-28. This latter figure is some 122% (i.e., more than double) what was forecast in March 2023 for the same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These subsidies and consequential costs of renewables will find their way into our bills. The \u00a316.4 billion peak is about \u00a3585 per household, up from \u00a3396 last financial year. By disclosing this extra \u00a3189 per year in green levies, the OBR has single-handedly trashed Labour\u2019s claim to be cutting energy bills by \u00a3300. Note these figures do not include the costs of the Feed-in-Tariff, nor grid balancing cost or the extra \u00a310 billion per year being spent on grid infrastructure. Our bills are going to soar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our taxes are going to rise to pay for all the wasted spending on CCUS, hydrogen and uneconomic insulation measure and our bills are going up even more to pay for all the renewables. If you have any money left over after this Budget, spend it on woolly jumpers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Turver writes the <\/em>Eigen Values<\/a> Substack, where this article first appeared<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although it is relatively thin gruel, there were some positive announcements about energy in the Budget Statement. First and foremost, the Chancellor chose to keep the temporary 5p per litre fuel duty cut for another year and the planned increase in 2025-26 will be cancelled. The Government claims this measure will lead to a saving of \u00a359 in 2025-26 for the average driver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":349868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691831270,691829892,691821693,691819239,691818154,691823489,691818130],"class_list":{"0":"post-349866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-budget","9":"tag-department-of-energy-net-zero","10":"tag-ed-miliband","11":"tag-green-subsidies","12":"tag-net-zero","13":"tag-rachel-reeves","14":"tag-renewables","16":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0Screenshot-2024-10-31-173244.jpeg?fit=1240%2C855&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1t10","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":230851,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=230851","url_meta":{"origin":349866,"position":0},"title":"Fuel 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This would effectively mean gas boiler owners subsidise lower electricity costs, making heat pumps more economically\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Energy Secretary Ed Miliband\"","block_context":{"text":"Energy Secretary Ed Miliband","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=energy-secretary-ed-miliband"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQPerHIO-8CNWqosa8JatiEs5bLgweA8O6uwleP3fgHvqFI9n69-FzrSEGHTMEgdd6FOqYRTY7UlhtPDQkTx8QyHL0kIotVZr07nFeBL4QsFALxgCDWa1wJxQHtvgPu6jX3udC0tIer_tUBTgMDGH0p3LgMsbw.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQPerHIO-8CNWqosa8JatiEs5bLgweA8O6uwleP3fgHvqFI9n69-FzrSEGHTMEgdd6FOqYRTY7UlhtPDQkTx8QyHL0kIotVZr07nFeBL4QsFALxgCDWa1wJxQHtvgPu6jX3udC0tIer_tUBTgMDGH0p3LgMsbw.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQPerHIO-8CNWqosa8JatiEs5bLgweA8O6uwleP3fgHvqFI9n69-FzrSEGHTMEgdd6FOqYRTY7UlhtPDQkTx8QyHL0kIotVZr07nFeBL4QsFALxgCDWa1wJxQHtvgPu6jX3udC0tIer_tUBTgMDGH0p3LgMsbw.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQPerHIO-8CNWqosa8JatiEs5bLgweA8O6uwleP3fgHvqFI9n69-FzrSEGHTMEgdd6FOqYRTY7UlhtPDQkTx8QyHL0kIotVZr07nFeBL4QsFALxgCDWa1wJxQHtvgPu6jX3udC0tIer_tUBTgMDGH0p3LgMsbw.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AQPerHIO-8CNWqosa8JatiEs5bLgweA8O6uwleP3fgHvqFI9n69-FzrSEGHTMEgdd6FOqYRTY7UlhtPDQkTx8QyHL0kIotVZr07nFeBL4QsFALxgCDWa1wJxQHtvgPu6jX3udC0tIer_tUBTgMDGH0p3LgMsbw.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=349866"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349876,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349866\/revisions\/349876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/349868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=349866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=349866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=349866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}