Ed Miliband blocked domestic gas drilling during an energy crisis. Nice work (Image: Getty)
European gas storage levels have plunged to a 13-year low and that spells big trouble for Britain. All we need is a cold snap or drop in wind generation and our bills will go through the roof. Years of disastrous energy policy have left Britain more exposed to the winter energy shock than almost any other European country. As you might expect, former energy secretary Ed Miliband has played a key role in that. Now PM Andy Burnham needs to take the decisive action to avert the looming nightmare.
Typically, EU gas stocks would be 80% full. This year, they’re at 63%. Storage owners normally fill up during summer when prices are lower, but traders held back, hoping the Iran war would end and energy prices retreat. Neither is happening. Which is terrible news for us, because we’re one of Europe’s biggest gas consumers. Worse, we import more than half the gas we use, with domestic production covering the remainder. That’s set to fall dramatically.
Today, around 25 million British homes have gas boilers. We’re still burning an awful lot of gas, and will continue to do so for years. It’s common sense to produce as much as we can ourselves, rather than pay wealthy Norwegians to produce it for us. Unfortunately, Miliband and common sense are strangers. I wouldn’t trust him to run the Tufty Club, but Labour put him in charge of our energy policy for two whole years. And now we are going to pay.
By killing our North Sea oil and gas industry for no good reason, Miliband has left us increasingly dependent on imports. Many of those imports pass through Belgium and the Netherlands, where storage is around 50% full. We’re also shipping liquefied natural gas from the US and Qatar, with potentially higher carbon and methane emissions. The North Sea ban has done nothing to mitigate climate change, but is making us poorer, colder and more stupid.
We are increasing renewables production, just not fast enough. We need gas to support the energy transition, but Miliband blocked it to burnish his credentials with green activists.
Britain has a second problem. We have some of the lowest gas storage capacity in Europe, which means we can’t load up on cheap gas in the summer. Our storage position is now perilously low. We have to buy it during the winter, when prices are at their highest. And this year, it could be brutal.
Incredibly, Britain shut its largest storage facility, Rough, in 2017. Centrica has pledged to invest £2billion to redevelop Rough, but wants a government-backed regulatory framework to unlock it. The Tories did nothing. Miliband did nothing. Now Burnham also appears to be doing nothing.
Miliband has bagged himself a nice promotion, while the rest of us are stuck with his gaslighting energy policy. Burnham promised a “pragmatic” approach to North Sea gas but so far, we haven’t seen much action. Rosebank remains unresolved. With luck, Jackdaw will receive approval this month.
At peak production, Jackdaw could supply roughly 6% of the UK’s total gas demand. It’s not a gamechanger, but it will help. If Burnham acts fast, the gas could start flowing into our homes this winter. The move will trigger paint-chucking green activists but the PM just has to grit his teeth and do it.
Tory shadow energy secretary Andrew Bowie said Burnham had “dithered, prevaricated and delayed for far too long”.
We will still use the same amount of gas either way. But this is from our own resources.
Thanks to years of political failure, Britain is now an energy prisoner of every country that supplies us. And when everybody is battling for gas, they won’t sell it to us on the cheap. If the gas crisis strikes, the only thing keeping the country warm will be our collective fury at Miliband and Burnham.
