What Labour means for your energy bills - can its GB Energy plan really save households £300 a year?
- Labour hopes its plans to launch GB Energy can trim hundreds off energy bills
- With Keir Starmer now in Number 10, Labour's energy plans can become reality
- Questions remain over exactly how GB Energy will save households money
Labour's election victory spells change for the UK - and energy bills are no exception.
The average British home currently pays yearly energy bills of £1,568 thanks to the Ofgem set price cap, with this figure set to rise later in the year.
In response, Labour's flagship energy policy is to launch a state-funded company called GB Energy, which the party says will save every household £300 on their power bills.
New Prime Minister Keir Starmer even referenced GB Energy in his first-ever speech as leader, and spoke of 'the opportunity of clean British power, cutting your energy bills'.
Re-energised: New prime minister Keir Starmer has plans to shake up the energy market by launching GB Energy to promote green power and cut household electricity bills too
With Labour now safely in power, GB Energy has been cleared to launch once the party has formally set up shop.
So how will Labour's GB Energy work - and what will it mean for household bills?
What is GB Energy?
GB Energy is set to be a state-funded but independent organisation investing in renewable electricity.
This includes energy coming from wind, including offshore wind, solar and hydrogen.
These projects could be very local in scope, such as a wind farm operated by a local authority and used to lower energy bills for homes in the area.
GB Energy will not produce green energy itself, but will instead fund projects that do.
Labour hopes to create 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2030.
GB Energy would also fund ways to capture and store carbon.
The organisation will also make the country more energy secure by cutting reliance on importing fossil fuels, like natural gas, from overseas.
Labour has also made a bold claim that GB Energy will create 650,000 new jobs.
How will GB Energy cut energy bills?
Labour still has to flesh out exactly how GB Energy will work, including how it can save each household its promised £300 a year by 2030.
But big savings should be possible if GB Energy is a success, as renewable energy is cheaper than that made by fossil fuels.
This is because there is no need to purchase the fuel needed to burn to create power, unlike gas, for example, which currently makes up about a third of electricity needs.
By increasing the amount of renewable electricity, and steering the nation slowly away from gas, Labour hopes that energy bills will fall.
More domestic renewable power means energy prices should drop by £300 a year, Labour campaign coordinator Pat McFadden told the BBC.
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: 'Lowering bills permanently will take time, but short term steps can be taken to help struggling and disillusioned households.
'The new Government must earn the public's trust by protecting vulnerable households, reducing energy debt, driving more onshore wind, bringing in changes to energy meters, ramping up insulation programmes, reforming standing charges and ending energy industry profiteering.'
How will GB Energy be funded?
Labour said GB Energy will be funded with £8.3billion in its first parliament, which will come from extending the windfall tax on oil and gas firms.
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