The prime minster has visited Oxfordshire to reveal the government’s strategy for energy security and net zero.
Rishi Sunak visited the Culham Science Centre, which is a lab run by the UK Atomic Energy Authority, in Abingdon to discuss Britain’s energy security and was joined by the new Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps.
Mr Shapps confirmed the government will shortly outline 2023-24 plans to “re-balance gas and electricity costs” and these will aim to cut the cost of electricity and to generate power more cleanly.
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Moving households from gas to cleaner energy will take place “over the next decade or two” Mr Shapps said.
An extension to the government’s scheme offering £5,000 grants towards heat pump insultation has been granted by the prime minister and will now be in place until 2028 instead of the previous cut-off date of 2025.
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The Energy Security Secretary's new announcements are part of the government’s “power up Britain” strategy which aims to give support for carbon capture technology and offshore wind.
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The government has re-affirmed their commitment to £20 billion of investment in carbon capture technology and £160 million for port infrastructure to help expand offshore wind.
The prime minister was asked if he had a heat pump and his official spokesman said he didn’t believe “there is one in No10” but a “number of measures” had to be taken to “improve energy efficiency in the building”.
Mr Sunak defended the UK’s approach to green technology following Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s attacks on US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
The prime minister said: “People should be really proud of the UK’s track record on all of this.
“If you look at it, we’ve decarbonised faster than any other major economy.
“Our carbon emissions have been reduced by over 40%, much more than all the other countries that we compete with.”
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