The Government must make Great British Energy (GBE) work according to a report from green charity IPPR.

GBE must provide at least a five per cent share of national electricity distribution in the 2030s (8.5GW) to consider the project successful in fulfilling the government’s aim of lowering energy bills, says the IPPR report – which sets out a detailed blueprint for how GBE should be set up and run.

The report is published against a backdrop of reports, later denied, that the Treasury may be forced to back-pedal on the promise to invest £8.3bn of taxpayer money in GBE over the current parliament. It allocated only £100m in the Budget to cover the company’s first two years of setting up, though it has earmarked a further £3bn to support local and community-owned renewable energy projects.

IPPR says that only with the full £8.3bn originally pledged by 2030 can GBE feasibly deliver on its promises. At that scale, IPPR argues, GBE would begin to make a tangible difference to the structure and pricing of UK energy markets, similarly to other European publicly-owned clean electricity “champions”.

The report calls for GBE to own and operate all its assets. Some have floated suggestions it could instead become a vehicle for public investment in other energy companies, but IPPR says this would duplicate the remit of the Government’s planned national wealth fund, while being less effective at delivering innovative energy projects and reshaping the market for public benefit.

IPPR says that beyond 2030 GBE should have the power to borrow independently of government, to enable it to invest and expand without weighing on the public sector finances.

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