The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) in the UK has appealed to current prime minister Boris Johnson and Conservative leadership candidates to convene an emergency energy crisis summit.
The organisation voiced concerns that the Conservative leadership contest has created uncertainty by providing divergent strategies to address the crisis and that the range of options to tackle it will narrow if taking action is delayed by another month.
The call comes as energy bills are expected to soar this winter.
“There needs to be real clarity combined with collective and decisive leadership - the country simply cannot afford to wait another month,” REA chief executive Nina Skorupska said in an open letter sent on Thursday. “That is why the REA echoes the calls for a crisis summit and the delivery of an emergency package of support,” she added.
“I would urge both leadership candidates to remember that the economic and environmental challenges that face our country are not mutually exclusive, but intrinsically linked,” the letter also says.
Yesterday, prime minister Boris Johnson, chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng held a roundtable with electricity industry leaders to discuss what they can do to ease pressure on people from rising energy prices.
“We have already acted to protect households with GBP 400 off energy bills and direct payments of GBP 1,200 for 8 million of the most vulnerable British families. In the spirit of national unity, they agreed to work with us to do more to help the people who most need it,” Zahawi said following the meeting.
According to a government statement, Johnson, Zahawi and Kwarteng stressed the importance of investing in North Sea oil and gas, renewables, biomass and nuclear to beef up the country’s energy security. Zahawi said that the government continues to evaluate the extraordinary profits in some parts of the electricity sector, while the prime minister remarked that it will be for the next prime minister to make significant fiscal decisions.
(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.222/EUR 1.182)
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Image by Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) on Twitter.
