We’ve helped with energy costs – but we’ll drive down bills for good by Powering Up Britain

IT is 50 years since the 1970s oil crisis sent fuel bills soaring.

But as with much else in British life, things improved dramatically after that decade.

Energy costs settled down and ­stabilised.

Our economy grew rapidly.

And we took plentiful and affordable energy pretty much for granted for the best part of four decades.

Then Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

Not only has Putin terrorised the brave Ukrainian people with tanks and missiles.

He’s also hit the pockets of every family and business in Britain by weaponising energy.

In the year since the invasion, ­wholesale electricity and gas prices have spiralled.

And I know it’s not been easy for the country to get through these ­challenging months.

Drive down bills

That is why, over the winter, the ­Government stepped in to pay half of the typical UK home’s electricity bill.

In the recent Budget, we extended the Energy Price Guarantee for an extra three months, meaning we have saved households around £1,500.

And from July we will end the ­premium that more than four million households pay on their prepayment meters over those paying by direct debit.

But even though these interventions were critically important to help ­millions of people through the winter, they were only stop-gap measures.

We have been working hard on a plan — Powering Up Britain — to be unveiled next week, to drive down your bills for good, deliver among the ­cheapest wholesale electricity prices in Europe by 2035, and transform Britain’s energy security.

The most successful economies in the world are the ones that have cheap energy prices.

And we have the ­ambition, skills and natural resources we need to get there.

For example, new flagship body Great British Nuclear will provide up to a quarter of our future power.

We’ve neglected nuclear for too long in this country, so we’ll be developing large-scale conventional nuclear power stations, but also cutting-edge Small Modular Reactors, which allow for much greater flexibility.

We already have the world’s largest operational offshore windfarm project.

And the second and third largest.

And soon we will have the fourth ­largest too.

All to harness a resource that Britain will never run short on — windy coastal weather.

But we’re going to go further.

We are also developing the next ­frontier in this exciting industry —floating offshore windfarms.

Proving that Britannia still rules the waves.

I want to make sure bills come down and stay down, so we are better ­insulated from volatile international markets and the whims of tyrants.

So we will take further steps to boost the energy efficiency of homes and other buildings — the quickest way we can cut bills.

We are providing £1billion, on top of the £6.6billion already announced this Parliament, to help reduce demand through energy-efficiency measures such as insulation.

Thanks to all the actions we’re taking, more than a million homes will benefit, with annual savings of between £400 and £700 on average.

On Thursday, we will also commit to addressing the imbalance between gas and electricity costs in household bills, to make electricity cheaper for the long term.

I want to remove the distortions in the energy market, and this could take £100 off your electricity bill.

The fallout from the tragic conflict in Ukraine has undoubtedly caused us some short-term challenges.

Held hostage

But ultimately, Putin’s war also marks a crucial turning point for Britain’s energy resilience.

Never again will we be held ­hostage by a tyrant.

Never again will we allow our energy security to be ­threatened.

Powering Up Britain will mean we wean ourselves off fossil fuel imports, and replace them with cheaper, cleaner, domestic power from renewables and nuclear.

And we will drive this energy ­transition with British innovation, British investment and British jobs.

We won’t allow Putin to threaten this cornerstone of our prosperity.

Cheap, abundant energy has been one of the main catalysts for our economic transformation since the dark days of the 1970s.

And cheap, clean, abundant energy — produced at home — will drive our future success too.