Centrica boss Chris O’Shea says the debate around net zero is dominated by those offering unsubstantiated sound bites - Dominic Lipinski/Bloomberg
Britain’s shift to a net zero power grid will not bring down electricity prices for families, the boss of British Gas has said.
Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of British Gas’s parent company Centrica, wrote on LinkedIn that the shift to renewable power “will NOT materially reduce UK electricity prices from current levels”.
He added: “They may give price stability, and avoid future price spikes based on the international gas market, but they will definitely not reduce the price.”
Mr O’Shea based his conclusion on an analysis comparing the cost of renewable energy with gas, showing that the cheapest renewables cost roughly the same as gas and the most exotic are up to three times as expensive.
The verdict from the boss of one of Britain’s biggest energy providers represents a damning rebuttal of Labour’s pledges to consumers. During last year’s election campaign Ed Miliband, now Energy Secretary, promised that the shift to clean energy would save households £300 per year by 2030.
Mr O’Shea said: “We need to stop having a polarised debate populated with unsubstantiated, but convenient, sound bites.
“I fully support the move to a cleaner energy system. I am simply very frustrated that people peddle misinformation at best, and disinformation at worst.”
The British Gas boss made no mention of any particular politicians or parties but his judgment contradicts claims made in last year’s Labour Party manifesto, which said: “Families and businesses will have lower bills for good, from a zero-carbon electricity system.”
Mr Miliband said soon after his appointment as Energy Secretary: “The only way to guarantee our energy security and cut bills permanently is to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels and towards home-grown clean energy.”
Andrew Bowie, the shadow energy minister, said: “Ed Miliband’s mad dash to net zero by 2050 has been built on ideological dogma, with a total disregard for the consequences inflicted upon the British public.
“Far from driving bills down by the £300 he promised, his war on North Sea oil and gas and his obsession with solar panels built with Chinese slave labour, will drive up the cost of energy.”
Mr O’Shea’s analysis centres on the role of Contracts for Difference (CfD), the system under which the Government guarantees renewable energy developers an inflation-linked minimum price for each megawatt hour of electricity their schemes produce.
That minimum price is underwritten by consumers, meaning that if wholesale prices fall below the strike price the difference is added to bills. As a result, household bills are unlikely to fall even if the market price for raw electricity becomes cheaper.
Mr O’Shea said: “There’s a bit of confusion on whether renewables will bring down energy prices from where they are today. People talk about the UK electricity price being set by international gas prices and therefore point to renewables giving us price reductions.
“However, the truth is a bit more nuanced. Wholesale electricity prices in the UK may well be set by international gas prices, but the wholesale price does NOT set the price that the majority of consumers pay in the UK.
“Why is that? It’s because of the Contract for Difference that renewable energy producers get. Essentially, no matter the wholesale price, renewable producers with a CfD get the ‘CfD strike price’.”
In the UK the minimum prices set by CfD are guaranteed for a set period of time with 15 years being the most common length of contract for renewables projects.
Mr O’Shea compared the wholesale energy price set by gas, which averaged £82.11 over the last year, with the 2024 CfD prices for renewables, pointing out that the prices are too similar to allow for any significant reductions.
Fixed offshore wind got up to £82.16 per megawatt hour in last year’s CfD round, while solar generation and onshore wind generators saw prices hovering around £70. That’s slightly lower than gas but not enough to make any significant difference to consumer prices.
Emerging technologies like floating offshore wind, with a strike price of £195, and tidal stream, £240, are set to prove far more expensive.
Mr O’Shea words carry weight as Centrica serves 7.5m residential customers under the British Gas brand and 400,000 businesses.
The company employs 21,000 people and is a leading investor in projects ranging from offshore gas production, nuclear energy and low carbon projects such as battery storage and solar farms.
Richard Tice, Reform UK’s energy spokesman, said: “Another energy expert admits the British people have been deeply misled. More renewables will not bring the electricity price down.
“We have sacrificed jobs, industries and wealth on a lie. Net zero is the most stupid policy ever imposed on our nation.”
The UK has some of the world’s highest energy prices, especially for business and industry. Data from 2024, collated by the International Energy Agency showed that UK prices were among the highest of its 31 members. UK electricity was about 50pc more expensive than in Germany and four times as expensive as in the US.
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said Mr O’Shea’s figures showed that “the prices for renewables that will form the backbone of clean power” were lower than last year’s average power prices.
The spokesman said: “We are making the UK a clean energy superpower to get off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators and replace that with clean homegrown power we control. That is how we can protect family finances and our national finances.
“As shown by the National Energy System Operator’s independent report, clean power by 2030 is achievable and will deliver a more secure energy system, which could see a lower cost of electricity and lower bills.”
