Octopus Energy urges lower power costs to sustain UK climate policy support

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Octopus urges lower UK power costs

Highlights

Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson urges UK politicians to prioritize cutting electricity costs to sustain public support for climate policy, highlighting the risk of voter backlash before the by-election.
Jackson argues that current UK energy bills incorporate too many policy costs, including wholesale power, subsidies, and support for vulnerable households, driving up retail prices.
Catherine McKenna advises that ending fossil fuel subsidies would improve affordability and strengthen the case for clean energy, while criticizing Canada’s new oil pipeline plans.

Jackson links energy transition to voter affordability

As reported by the Financial Times, Jackson tells the FT Climate & Impact Summit that politicians should stop asking consumers to make sacrifices to curb climate change and instead focus on cutting electricity costs. Speaking before the English by-election and amid the prospect of gains by Reform UK, he says governments have failed to make energy more affordable during the transition.

Jackson says the UK and Europe have handled the electricity transition poorly if the aim is to build public support. He calls on policymakers to pursue measures that match people’s immediate financial interests with climate goals, rather than framing action around sacrifice for a threat many voters do not feel directly.

He also says Reform UK’s focus on high energy costs does not necessarily conflict with electrification. While the party has pledged to scrap net zero commitments, cancel renewable energy contracts and remove subsidies for wind and solar, Jackson argues that bringing electricity prices down remains essential to wider adoption of cleaner energy systems.

Bill structure and wider policy debate

As the UK’s largest household energy supplier, Octopus has for years argued that a greener electricity grid and the introduction of local electricity pricing could lower bills while supporting climate targets. Jackson says UK energy bills have become a dumping ground for multiple policy costs, with retail prices reflecting wholesale power costs as well as charges tied to support for vulnerable households, renewable subsidies and network upgrades.

Catherine McKenna, a lawyer and former Canadian environment and climate change minister who now advises Singapore’s Temasek, says governments could also improve affordability by ending fossil fuel subsidies. She argues this would make clean energy relatively cheaper and allow climate action to be presented as a response to the cost-of-living crisis.

McKenna is also critical of Canada’s moves to develop a new oil pipeline. Her remarks come after Prime Minister Mark Carney last month struck a deal with Alberta on industrial carbon pricing, laying groundwork for a pipeline intended to ship up to 1 million barrels a day to Asia.

Our earlier coverage of UK wage growth and unemployment ahead of the Bank of England’s rate decision outlined how sterling firmed after jobs data beat expectations, with pay growth holding at 3.4% and joblessness at 4.9%. We noted that with rates expected to stay at 3.75%, policymakers were still weighing inflation risks — including potential energy-price swings — that could keep wage pressures sticky and complicate the path back to the 2% target.

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