The Times - UK (2022-06-13)

2 2GM Monday June 13 2022 | the times

News

projects are paid fixed prices for their

electricity under the “contracts for

difference” system, many older projects

have made millions in extra profits

since gas prices began rising last year.

Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, said in

May that he was considering a windfall

tax on these generators. However,

sources in the Treasury and the busi-

ness department said that in the longer

term the government was committed

to fundamental market reform.

“In the past it didn’t really matter

because the price of gas was reasonably

stable,” one said. “Now it seems com-

pletely crazy that the price of electricity

is based on the price of gas when a large

amount of our generation is from

renewables.”

Ministers hope that the reforms will

also make the market more transparent

and emphasise to consumers the

benefits of decarbonisation.

Recent research by the Energy and

Climate Intelligence Unit suggested

that with even cheaper wind farms

coming online in the next few years, if

there were another gas crisis in five

years wind power would save consum-

ers £6.7 billion in a year — equivalent to

£85 per home. By 2030, if the UK reach-

es its target of 40GW of offshore wind,

this would jump to £26 billion, equiva-

lent to £330 a home.

“This will allow people to really see

the benefits of all that renewable

investment,” a Whitehall source said.

“Previously, gas was cheaper than

every single renewable technology —

now every single renewable technology

is cheaper than gas. Hinkley point C, it

turns out, was the deal of the decade.”

The government agreed to pay £

per megawatt hour to Hinkley when it

starts running in 2027. The wholesale

price of gas is more than double that.

Michael Grubb, professor of energy

and climate change at University Col-

lege London, who has advised the gov-

ernment on a new system, said in a

recent article that the present pricing

mechanism was “unconscionable”.

“Households are paying for their

electricity several times what it now

costs to generate and transmit it from

the cleanest energy sources at scale,” he

said. “It’s a bit like having to pay the

peak-period price for every train

journey you take.”

Joss Garman, of the European Cli-

mate Foundation, called on ministers

to make the change as soon as possible.

“It should be obvious that the more

cheap renewable energy we make, and

the less exposed we are to expensive gas

prices, the more everyone’s bills can

fall,” he said. “It is only bad policy that

means this isn’t happening already.”

Simon Cran-McGreehin, head of

analysis at the Energy and Climate

Intelligence Unit, said: “The green

levies that paid for the early wind farms

kick-started a renewables industry that

is producing ever-cheaper power, and

bill payers should now be able to start

cashing in on this net-zero dividend.

Translating those cheap renewables to

cheaper bills is much needed.”

Petrol stations investigated over surging

prices, page 6

Spending squeeze slows economy, page 12

NEWS

Return to power-sharing before

vote on protocol, unionists told

Oliver Wright Policy Editor

Bruno Waterfield Brussels

Sausages, soil and sovereignty are all at stake

What are the problems

the government is

trying to fix?

Customs checks

Ministers say that the

rules of checking goods

entering Northern

Ireland from Britain are

bureaucratic,

unnecessary and

impose unacceptable

costs on business.

Food

British supermarkets

shipping food to their

stores in Northern

Ireland have

vociferously

complained of highly

bureaucratic and

pointless checks and

forms that mean a

single lorry load of

supplies can generate

700 pages of

documentation.

Banned goods

The EU has import bans

in place on products

such as chilled and

processed uncooked

meat, meaning that

under the protocol it

would be illegal to

export to Northern

Ireland British sausages

or any kind of soil.

Regulations

Under the protocol

Northern Ireland has to

follow all existing and

new EU regulations.

While at the point of

Brexit there was

alignment in the

regulatory regimes, this

is already beginning to

shift. Last month the

EU’s food safety agency

decided to ban a widely

used food additive, E

or titanium dioxide,

even though evidence

of a risk to human

health was “not

conclusive”. The

additive, long used in

the baking industry as a

whitener, is still allowed

under British

regulations but under

EU rules it would not be,

banning cakes that

supermarkets might

want to sell in their

Northern Irish stores.

European Court of

Justice

Under the protocol the

European Commission

can bring infringement

proceedings against the

UK if Northern Ireland

or the British

government fail to

comply with its terms.

This gives them a direct

role in the legal

framework of the

province.

Ministers have told unionist politicians

that they must re-establish full

power-sharing with Sinn Fein before

parliament is asked to pass a law that

would override swathes of the North-

ern Ireland Brexit deal.

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, is due

to announce legislation today that

would allow the government to disre-

gard key elements of the Northern Ire-

land protocol in a move that critics

claim would breach international law.

Truss will deny this and say that the

measures are vital to protect the Good

Friday agreement and are fully in line

with the government’s obligations.

The protocol effectively imposed

checks and bans on some goods enter-

ing Northern Ireland from the rest of

the UK and required it to follow EU

regulations.

Talks between Britain and the EU to

reform the protocol have resulted in

stalemate and the government intends

to amend it unilaterally, citing efforts to

protect the Irish peace process.

However, ministers have privately

told the Democratic Unionist Party

they will not push the bill through the

House of Lords, where it is expected to

face opposition, until the party has

returned to government with

Republicans.

Sources said the government needed

the DUP to move as a demonstration,

to the EU and the US, that the problems

over the protocol could be fixed.

They also want to counter the argu-

ment of critics who say the DUP has no

intention of restoring power-sharing

and merely wants to force the govern-

ment to call elections in the hope that

they can return once again as the

largest party.

A source suggested that ministers

hope the bill would pass its Commons

stages before the summer recess and at

that stage the DUP would be expected

to nominate a candidate to become

Northern Ireland’s deputy first minis-

ter and re-enter full power-sharing.

A government source said: “The

onus is on the DUP to show good faith

and nominate not just a speaker for the

Stormont Assembly but also a deputy

first minister to allow power-sharing to

get up and running fully.

“Our expectation is that this should

come when the bill is passed by the

Commons, which will hopefully be

before the summer recess.”

There has been disagreement among

ministers over the drafting of the bill.

Truss hardened up key clauses over the

application of VAT in Northern Ireland

and the role of the European Court of

Justice. The moves were successfully

opposed by Rishi Sunak and Michael

Gove.

Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ire-

land secretary, told Times Radio: “We

have a duty to fix this problem for the

citizens of the UK, and specifically the

people of Northern Ireland.”

Mary Lou McDonald, president of

Sinn Fein, insisted that the protocol was

working. “What the Tory government

is proposing to do in breaching inter-

national law is to create huge, huge

damage to the northern economy, to

the Irish economy,” she said.

continued from page 1

Reform would cut electricity bills

Q&A

How does the system work?

The price of electricity is set

through “marginal pricing”, where

the most expensive megawatt

needed to meet demand sets the

price for all generation. This is

almost always gas as renewables

and nuclear run permanently, and

because some plants are needed

most of the time and won’t operate

unless the electricity price is high

enough to cover operating costs.

Gas prices have risen so much

that they are distorting the market.

Is gas still cheaper than renewable

energy to produce electricity?

No. At current prices generating

power from renewable energy is at

least four times cheaper than gas.

So what changes are the

government planning?

In effect ministers want to decouple

the price of electricity from the cost

of gas. One idea is to aggregate

long-term contracts with renewable

energy generators and sell the

power on to consumers. The price

would mainly be set by the actual

costs of generation.

Would this save us money?

Yes, but just how much is very hard

to quantify.

DAB RADIO l ONLINE l SMART SPEAKER l APP

To day’s highlights

7.20am

11.40am

1230pm

2pm

6pm

Victoria Prentis, fisheries minister

The former “happiness tsar” Lord Layard

Jacqueline Wilson, the children’s

author, on what she would do if she

ruled the world

The writer and performer

Sabrina Mahfouz, right

The Six O’Clock Briefing: Your

comprehensive round-up of the

day’s biggest stories in 15 minutes

MURRAY WORRY

Andy Murray’s

fitness is in doubt

after an injury

PA G E 6 0

© TIMES NEWSPAPERS LIMITED, 2022.

Published in print and all other derivative

formats by Times Newspapers Ltd, 1 London

Bridge St, London, SE1 9GF, telephone

020 7782 5000. Printed by: Newsprinters

(Broxbourne) Ltd, Great Cambridge Rd,

Waltham Cross, EN8 8DY; Newsprinters

(Knowsley) Ltd, Kitling Rd, Prescot,

Merseyside, L34 9HN; Newsprinters

(Eurocentral) Ltd, Byramsmuir Road,

Holytown, Motherwell, ML1 1NP; Associated

Printing (Carn) Ltd, Morton 2 Esky Drive,

Carn Industial Estate, Portadown, BT63 5YY;

KP Services, La Rue Martel, La Rue des Pres

Trading Estate, St Saviour, Jersey, JE2 7QR.

For permission to copy articles or headlines

for internal information purposes contact

Newspaper Licensing Agency at PO Box 101,

Tunbridge Wells, TN1 1WX, tel 01892

525274, e-mail [email protected]. For all other

reproduction and licensing inquiries contact

Licensing Department, 1 London Bridge St,

London, SE1 9GF, telephone 020 7711 7888,

e-mail [email protected]

Warm and sunny in the south and
east. Cooler and wetter in the north
and west. Full forecast, page 51

THE WEATHER

9

10

20

13

17

21

19

18

16

14

TODAY’S EDITION

LETTERS 28

LEADING ARTICLES 29

WORLD 30

BUSINESS 35

REGISTER 47

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES 49

SPORT 53

CROSSWORD 64

TV & RADIO TIMES

FOLLOW US

thetimes timesandsundaytimes thetimes

COMMENT

Tough feedback hurts, even sniping on Twitter,

but shrugging it off is an essential grown-up skill

LIBBY PURVES, PAGE 27

OFFER

Save up to 42% with a subscription to

The Times and The Sunday Times

THETIMES.CO.UK/SUBSCRIBE

Drained dam

reveals city

Archaeologists have

mapped Zakhiku,

centre of the Mitanni

empire, which came

to light after thousands

of years when part of

the Mosul dam

reservoir in Iraq was

drained. Page 34

Love on the air

for Musk sister

Elon Musk’s sister has

embarked on her own

journey to fame and

fortune. Tosca Musk is

hoping her love of

romantic films will be

shared by millions and

make Passionflix a hit.

Page 32

TIMES

RWANDA PLAN

An NHS doctor and

former refugee

pleads for humanity

PAGE 2-

SPORT

AI OH...

Artificial intelligence
turns surreal ideas
into images
PA G E 9

Maxwell seeks

return to UK

Ghislaine Maxwell is
expected to seek a
transfer to a prison in
“civilised” Britain to
serve her sentence
for procuring girls for
the American
paedophile Jeffrey
Epstein. Page 19

Banca do Antfer

Telegram: https://t.me/bancadoantfer

Issuhub: https://issuhub.com/user/book/

Issuhub: https://issuhub.com/user/book/