‘Drill, baby, drill approach costly’

RESEARCH SHOWS EXTRACTION FROM NORTH SEA WILL NOT BRING DOWN BILLS SIGNIFICANTLY

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CLAIMS that drilling in the North Sea will significantly save households money are “sheer fantasy’, experts have warned as analysis showed renewables could cut bills by hundreds of pounds.

Analysis by the University of Oxford Smith School showed a UK fully powered by renewable energy, with electricity coming from clean sources and people using technology such as electric heat pumps for their home heating, could save households up to £441 a year on bills.

In contrast, maximising oil and gas extraction from the North Sea would save households just £16 to £82 a year - and that saving would only be delivered if the tax revenues collected from fossil fuel companies were redistributed to families to offset their energy bills.

If the Government did not use the tax revenues it collects from North Sea drilling solely to help lower household bills, there would be “no discernible benefit” to consumers at all as oil and gas prices are set by volatile international markets, the analysts said.