Former Chief Executive of Energy UK, Angela Knight, has hit out at Energy Secretary Ed Miliband after his plans for net zero were dealt a fresh blow.
British Gas boss Chris O'Shea has issued a stark warning that the UK's transition to renewable energy will not lead to lower electricity prices for consumers, directly contradicting Miliband's claims.
The chief executive of Centrica, British Gas's parent company, stated that while the shift to net zero power sources may deliver greater price stability, it "will definitely not reduce the price" of electricity from current levels.
In a LinkedIn post, O'Shea claimed: "The build-out of renewables will not materially reduce UK electricity prices from current levels. They may give price stability and avoid future price strikes... but will definitely not reduce the price."
Ed Miliband has been criticised by Former Chief Executive of Energy UK Angela Knight, as she claimed he 'lives in fantasy land'
PA / GB News
Discussing the revelation on GB News, Knight claimed that the cost of Britain becoming more green has been something that Miliband has "always sidelined".
She explained: "I don't think Ed Miliband's promise was a great promise, and I'm not sure how many people believed him, because there's no way that you can start a programme of huge investment and somehow it doesn't get paid for.
"So under any sort of circumstances, the big push for renewables, wind farms, for solar and so on is an expensive one. It might be much better for the environment, but the reality of cost has always been there and has been one of those things which Ed Miliband has unfortunately tended to sideline."
In a direct criticism of Miliband, Knight added that the Energy Secretary "lives in fantasy land" when it comes to his plans for Britain.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
British Gas boss Chris O'Shea has warned that net zero "will definitely not reduce the price" of electricity from current levels
PA
Knight told GB News: "I often think that either he lives in complete sort of cloud cuckoo fantasy land of fanatics, or he actually is knowing that in many respects he is not really telling the people of this country the truth."
When pressed by host Emily Carver on whether she believes Britain's energy bills will "eventually go down" once the UK is "completely green", Knight disagreed.
She explained: "It can't be the case because how are you going to be completely green? After all, renewable energy - it comes free in the sense that the wind will always blow and the sun will always shine - but they'll only do it for some of the time.
"So even though it may reduce cost now to build a wind farm, you've still got to build the backup."
Knight told GB News that Britain must build a 'reliable backup' to renewable energy sources
GB News
Emphasising the need for a "reliable backup" as opposed to "relying on imports", Knight added: "Right now, we're increasingly relying on being able to import power from continental Europe. That comes at a price and it comes at quite a significant price.
"And so actually building the back up is now where the investment needs to go, because we've closed down our coal fired power stations and our nuclear power stations are old."
She concluded: "Even if we were to build huge battery farms, they will only keep a town or whatever running for not a very long period of time. And so it is that reliable backup that is needed.
"And in fact, baseload is where we should be looking. That is stuff that just goes on and on and on steadily."
