A new Energy Independence Bill was announced in the King's Speech yesterday. However, the speech (and earlier references to this Bill, for example in the Labour Manifesto) gives us little to go on beyond the words 'energy' and 'independence' – already themselves very much the buzz words of the administration of late, particularly in the wake of recent events in Iran. But, reading between the lines of recent government commentary, and considering some of the glaring regulatory challenges, I anticipate the Bill may include: (i) powers to help accelerate renewable projects through planning processes (though we remain somewhat sceptical of what can realistically be achieved in the short term, given the confines of the UK's hyper-politicised and highly localised planning system); (ii) wider energy regulatory simplification, to allow e.g. hydrogen grids and smart technology to be deployed more easily; (iii) a properly legislated position – rather than mere ministerial announcements – on new oil and gas licences in the North Sea; and (iv) consumer-focused reforms aimed at reducing bills, particularly for the most vulnerable. Whether broader, more radical measures – such as de-coupling renewable energy pricing from gas, which recent policy changes have not really addressed – will feature remains to be seen. Either way, there are plenty of political hot potatoes in the mix. But if the Bill can give us the long called for clarity on the future regulatory direction of travel, to crystallise opportunities to invest in the transition, that will be incredibly welcome.
There was one further clue in the speech. The King noted that the Bill is intended to ensure outside actors cannot use energy to 'attack the economic security of the British people'. This speaks to the administration's increasingly visible strategy of linking sustainability with security as a means of building political consensus. Yet one of the less-discussed tensions here concerns the wider security implications of an increasingly electrified energy system. If we envisage a nation in which all domestic homes, industry and transport relies on electrical rather than stored petrochemical energy, the security vulnerabilities created by system-level interference – with the data systems running the grid, for example, or with import cables from critically important offshore windfarms – become a serious concern. As we so often see, the issues of security, defence and sustainability are deeply interlinked, and careful thought must still be given to how we better join up the regulatory regimes that govern them.