75% of decentralised energy businesses say PM has damaged confidence

An overwhelming 75% of decentralised energy sector professionals and businesses have voiced a significant erosion of confidence in the wake of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's announcement yesterday, which diluted crucial net zero policies.  

That’s according to the results of a poll taken this morning at the Association for Decentralised Energy's (ADE) annual Decentralised Energy Conference, hosted at the Barbican Centre in London. Only 20% of the 250-strong audience reported that the announcement had not affected their business confidence, while 5% said the speech had actually strengthened their outlook. 

This marks a dramatic shift in a sector that is making meaningful headway in modernising and strengthening the UK’s energy system - 74% of attendees reported that prior to the announcement, they felt either medium or high levels of confidence in the government's ability to introduce vital policies to support their businesses, a figure that has now sharply fallen. 

More positively, the ADE and its members have today reaffirmed their commitment to advocating for policies that empower businesses, protect the public, support the economy and foster renewed confidence in the pursuit of a sustainable and prosperous energy future for the United Kingdom. When asked about how the sector should respond to the Government’s new approach for net zero, 89% of the audience said they wanted to ‘raise the stakes’ and step up action to ensure that progress is not allowed to falter, while just 6% said the sector should maintain the status quo and 7% said it should ‘keep under the radar’. 

Speaking to the audience, ADE CEO Caroline Bragg said: " It’s been an extremely interesting couple of days. We need to have a serious discussion about where this is going to push policy and how we’re going to make up the shortfall the Government already knew it had in the Sixth Carbon Budget, because we simply have to. There are positives to take from this - we should welcome more public engagement and debate about where this is going, to strive towards delivering net zero even more effectively than before and repair the damage done by the Prime Minister yesterday.” 

Joanne Wade, Chief Strategic Advisor at the ADE, said: “The delays announced yesterday not only jeopardise our commitments to tackle climate change head-on but undermine the UK’s economic prosperity and impose unwarranted financial burdens on consumers during a cost-of-living crisis. 

“While the Conservative Party boasts a distinguished legacy of decisive climate action, yesterday’s speech threatens to derail this tradition. These delays not only risk destabilising our commitment to addressing climate change but will also lead to lost jobs and the erosion of business confidence in investing in the UK. This comes at a time when other nations are actively courting such investments, making it even more vital that we demonstrate unwavering resolve in our deployment of energy efficiency measures, heat networks, flexibility upgrades and industrial decarbonisation.”