Energy price cap rises 10%: £150 for the average household bill. a quick 🧵: bills have come down since the peak of the crisis but are higher than they were in 2021, and with the end of government support we can see households struggling - and that was before this new rise. Energy debt held by suppliers, mostly from unpaid bills, stands at a record £3.2 billion - and high debt levels are an issue for everyone, as the regulator requires suppliers to manage this debt or recoup it from across all bill payers.

A list of corrections from the 5mins of energy debate that was just played on @BBCr4today for their Yesterday in Parliament piece:

1. We still build wind turbines on land, all over the world, and move them by road.

(I mean, planning rules set max heights for onshore turbines) 3. Onshore wind is very cheap in the UK. Renewables are collectively the cheapest forms of power. Renewables are still the cheapest forms of power with the costs of managing the system

My thoughts are with the Queen and her family in Balmoral. But meanwhile our work on the package of measures announced by the PM today continues. Here's a summary of everything I think was announced and some rough thoughts. Reviews
- 2 Reviews (one on Net Zero, and one on Regulation). I will confess that my first reaction was to eyeroll at another Net Zero review, but then I was delighted to find green champion @CSkidmoreUK will lead it
- Also an Energy Supply Taskforce. We'd called for this.

Good to hear @SimonClarkeMP, who has always been interested in climate and energy policy, reinforce the economic and energy opportunity presented by Net Zero. The Secretary of State also clarified that fracking wouldn’t be a solution to the price crisis (correctly, as the Chancellor has also previously stated), but would be part of a wider package - PM looking to make the UK a net energy exporter

Ok, just off from doing the @BBCr4today, first interview in 4 months and during a time on Mat Leave where the baby enjoys all night parties and the toddler has chicken pox, so if I sound absolutely crackers, don’t worry, it’ll get better. But here’s the coherent version: Yes, £3500 energy bills (average) sounds absolutely scary. Yes, we are reeling - although a little less than customers will be because we can see the forward gas prices, and that is why we’ve been calling for action for months.

There’s a lot of chat about how to cope with more frequent heat waves in the community groups I’m in. With thanks to @heatpolicyrich here’s some easy cooling advice (that isn’t buying a stand alone air conditioning unit 😬): 🧵
Suggest anything I’ve missed👇 -Close windows and doors once it's hotter outside than inside
- Close internal doors.
- Dry wet clothes in the house.
- Deliberately wet and hang wet sheets to cool any room they're in.
- Close curtains and blinds on sunny windows for solar gain

Whilst it is brilliant to see 20 MPs worrying about what we can do to help customers with energy bills this spring, green policies are not the cause of current bill rises, in fact quite the opposite and so some nuance is required here (a thread).

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-598497… The letter suggests that UK customers have been disproportionately affected by current crisis relative to other markets because of taxation and green levies. This is not strictly true (not least because other markets have suffered and their Govs have acted!).

On @BBCr4today to talk about volatile international gas. Yes, we will pay for gas volatility and our retail sector’s fragility: that is why industry wants Gov intervention. There are actions that should be taken to create a long term, stable retail market which can innovate for net zero (Ofgem has started this and BEIS are consulting) - they should be doing this anyway but crisis has highlighted what industry has said for years about UK retail

When we bought our house in London, the garden had been concreted over. The soil was sterile. Over lockdown and mat leave we mulched it. I planted vegetables and wild flowers and a fruit tree. I try to be cool about the snails eating… everything. (In an unbelievably lucky piece of planning, we firstly moved into a house with a garden a few weeks before the lockdown and had budgeted to landscape, assuming, rightly, I probably wouldn’t be able to wield a pick-axe between breast feeds. I have been grateful everyday since)

1. Heat pump costs will come down as market grows. See: offshore wind, electric vehicles, batteries.
2. Lots in CCC report about who funds & how (i.e. no one is saying everyone fronts up £8k)

But for able to pay (1/2)

https://twitter.com/emilygosden/status/1336609862508220416

3. I bought my first home this year. It cost less than other houses (aka trying to buy a house as a Millenial with no inheritence = buy a ruin) because it didn't have e.g. double glazing, and the estate agent, vendor, and ultimately, us as buyers, factored that into its worth.