Old-style renationalisation of the energy system, whereby the state buys all existing assets, would be a “monumental misuse of public money,” according to shadow energy minister Alan Whitehead.
Speaking at the Energy Network Association’s annual Well Connected reception in Whitehall last night (Thursday July 20), Whitehead outlined a vision of renationalisation whereby parts of the energy system would be “municipalised and localised and under accountable control,” but the government would not buy up existing asset bases.
He said: “The fact that the process is municipalised and localised and under accountable control is to my mind a way of talking about nationalisation but a very different process indeed.”
Under those circumstancess, Whitehead suggested that “a good living for those companies involved in the process is interacting with that in terms of ownership of the kit and arranging how the process interacts with what the rest of the system looks like, and working alongside that accountable process ownership to make the whole thing work. That looks to me like a very different way of talking about and doing it and that is certainly what I would consider.”
He added: “It certainly wouldn’t be my intention ever of spending £62 billion or £100 billion, running around with a chequebook buying everything people have got at the moment because that a) wouldn’t happen in terms of how much money there is available and b) would be a monumental misuse of public money in terms of the real challenges we’ve got ahead of us.”
Renationalising parts of the energy system and the water companies was a key manifesto pledge for the Labour party in the recent election. Jeremy Corbyn’s party promised to return energy grids to public ownership “over time” by allowing the publicly-owned local companies to purchase regional infrastructure. The manifesto also included regaining control of energy supply networks by altering the national and regional network operator licence conditions.
Speaking at the same event, UK Power Networks chief executive and ENA chairman Basil Scarsella called on networks to use the ENA’s open networks project as a forum to “come up with a vision which is common for the UK and the benefit of consumers right across the industry.”