Nick Park

Politics. Energy and climate policy. Occasionally opinions

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

The quotes from @peston below do not actually appear in Sir Jon Cunliffe’s report published today. It’s not clear where they come from. They appear similar to previous academic work from the University of Greenwich, but are not direct quotes from that work.

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

The limiting factor has often been less exciting - eg planning delays or delays in getting a grid connection. A state-developer hitting these obstacles could, perhaps, be able to convince ministers of the importance of addressing these awkward issues? (3/3)

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

I suspect this announcement from @Keir_Starmer has more to do with Labour Party politics than energy policy. I’m not convinced a state-owned generator is a good idea, but there is perhaps one way in which this might work… (1/3)

[The Labour Party @UKLabour]

With @Keir_Starmer as Prime Minister, Labour will establish GB Energy.

✅ A publicly-owned, renewable generation company.
✅ Harnessing the power of Britain’s sun, wind and waves to cut energy bills.
✅ Britain will be an energy independent superpower.

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

The reason we haven’t built as much renewable generation as we could have done isn’t a shortage of companies wanting to develop projects nor is it a shortage of capital waiting to be invested — so no obvious problem here for govt investment to solve, but… (2/3)

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

What policy choices does government have available? Does it matter that only around ⅓ of homes have mortgages? Does it simply expect people to pay? Or is there an equivalent Government Mortgage Guarantee Scheme? If so, what does that do to the influence of monetary policy? (3/3)

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

Question: Energy bills were about to go up by ~£1500 a year / £130 a month. The government decided that was a sum people couldn’t possible afford (probably correctly) and essentially nationalised part of household energy bills - at a cost somewhere north of £100bn….(1/3)

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

If @bankofengland base rates go to 5%, then a family with a (smaller than average) mortgage of £100k will be paying an extra £3,250 a year / £270 a month extra (vs August). For the average outstanding mortgage balance that might be £400 a month (triple the energy rise)… (2/3)

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

This matters today when government is announcing major tax cuts in search of higher growth. We will see where public opinion settles, but it’s important to remember that many target voters, indeed many in comfortable Conservative seats, will be feeling poorer next year (10/10)

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

Despite a huge Government intervention on energy bills, costs will still go up and millions will struggle to pay. Public First analysis, modelling and opinion research here…

https://t.co/J6kG34goVd

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

Huge government intervention has shielded households from the worst, but we shouldn’t forget that bills will still be £100 a month more than families had come to expect. Money that many families did not have spare at the end of the month (9/n)

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

Is this the Government doubling the ECO scheme?

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

@JeremyNic666 @guynewey BEIS - Valuation of greenhouse gas emissions: for policy appraisal and evaluation - has £245/t for 2021 - https://t.co/fRistV4xY1

[Nick Park @MrNickPark]

Excellent advice for the eight remaining conservative leadership campaigns here from @daisymeylands

[Daisy Powell-Chandler @daisymeylands]

It seems that the Climate Change and Energy row of our Public First leadership campaign policy tracker is looking a bit sparse (and quite depressing https://t.co/OPM8jencAQ) so here are some useful materials to help campaign teams… 🧵