This is an interesting article (in last week's Observer), both for its proposals and its proposers. One of the authors, John Browne, was formerly chief executive of BP, and it may be surprising to see such statist ideas coming from him. They propose or at least suggest:
- Nationalisation of the National Grid in order to borrow more cheaply for investment and better control network access and pricing
- Regulation or nationalisation of the capacity market (mainly gas-fired generators held in reserve for when renewable output is low)
- Buying out generators receiving large legacy subsidies such as the Renewables Obligation.
They say these changes would cut average household bills by £300 pa and reduce industry bills by 10-30%.
Read the whole thing.