Column argues Labour's Net Zero push risks higher energy bills, critic says Ed Miliband stands in the way

A Daily Mail column argues that Labour’s pursuit of a green agenda under Ed Miliband is linked to rising household energy bills and risks undermining the party’s promises of cheaper energy.

The piece, written by Jeff Prestidge, retraces Labour’s bid to deliver a green economic makeover, including mass deployment of wind and solar energy, and a pledge to reach Net Zero by 2050. It portrays the Labour project as a sweeping economic transformation that would bring jobs, new homes with heat pumps, and a cheaper energy bill profile for households by 2030. It also notes the party’s stance on North Sea oil and gas, pointing to opposition rhetoric around exploration licenses as part of Miliband’s green plan.

Prestidge argues that, in his view, the combination of aggressive decarbonisation and policy bets on wind, solar, and nuclear power could be inflating the cost base that feeds into consumer bills. The column underscores scepticism from opposition lawmakers, among others, about whether the Net Zero push is compatible with maintaining affordable energy for households. It also cites remarks from U.S. President Donald Trump during a visit to the U.K. that he framed the North Sea as a valuable resource and raised questions about wind power’s reliability, framing the debate in broad political terms.

The article also notes that industry voices such as green-energy entrepreneur Dale Vince and the head of Octopus Energy have urged Labour to take a more flexible approach to North Sea oil and gas, arguing that a lighter touch could help the economy while still pursuing climate goals. In the writer’s assessment, what matters most to households is the level of their energy bills, rather than the ideological purity of a Net Zero timetable.

The column supplies a running tally of the price cap regime overseen by Ofgem since Labour took office. It notes the typical annual dual-fuel bill cap rose from about £1,568 to £1,720, a climb of roughly 10%. It adds that the cap will rise again next month by around 2% to about £1,755, bringing the increase since Labour’s electoral victory to just under 12%. The report suggests these revisions are not driven by wholesale energy-cost movements alone but by policy charges linked to connecting more wind and solar capacity to the grid, funding large projects such as Sizewell C, and upgrading the gas transmission network.

According to Prestidge, much of these new charges are built into fixed standing charges that customers pay regardless of consumption. He argues this structure makes bills less responsive to changes in how much energy households actually use, which he says undermines consumer relief even as households face higher bills. The piece notes that standing charges can account for a large share of a household electricity bill, and it frames this as a key channel through which climate-policy costs are transmitted to consumers.

The article also mentions that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has asked ministers to consider scrapping the 5% VAT applied to energy bills, a move that could save about £86 per household per year, but stresses that this would not address the deeper structural drivers of rising prices. Prestidge writes that while supporting climate action is important, it should not come at the cost of industry vitality or household financial health, and he calls for a pragmatic energy policy that expands renewables while leveraging abundant domestic resources under the sea.

The piece closes by arguing that if Labour cannot deliver a credible plan that lowers bills, the Prime Minister should seek leadership aligned with a more practical pipeline of energy policy. It emphasizes that climate aims remain important, but energy affordability and industrial competitiveness must remain central to policy choices in the Climate & Environment arena.