As Pilita Clark notes (“Gas, not net zero, has driven up UK power bills”, Opinion, March 19) the major reason UK businesses and households face higher electricity bills than those in other countries is its dependence on gas, not net zero policy costs such as subsidies for renewables.
But the anti-net zero argument is even weaker when it comes to
energy-intensive companies in the UK (those with electricity costs of least
20 per cent of value added) as they are exempted from those costs.
They also now have exemptions from some of the costs of expanding the grid to meet clean power targets. Completing the transition to low-cost renewables as fast as possible is the best strategy to help UK energy-intensive manufacturing.
Matthew Lockwood
Professor of Energy and Climate Policy
University of Sussex Business School,
Brighton, East Sussex, UK
