Katie Ostheimer

It’s General Election Eve…(assume that’s what we call it?!) and I’ve just finished watching a programme Energy UK features in - Skint: The Truth About Britain’s Broken Economy by Tim Harford on Channel 4. https://lnkd.in/etTqfiif It’s a tough watch at times. Far too many people are struggling with making ends meet. Household bills and the cost of basic necessities are out of reach for so many people. Citizens Advice say that since the election was called their advisers have helped over 34,000 people with a food bank referral or emergency charitable support. That’s 227% higher than in the same period in 2019. Whatever your politics, I think there’s widespread agreement that this cannot go on. There is a lot of work to be done - and the energy industry wants to play its part. We’re on the cusp of a global economic & climate transformation - and we know that the energy industry is crucial to the UK’s success. A strong, collaborative partnership between the public and private sectors will maximise opportunities for people, power and prosperity. The size of the prize is impressive - we can grow our economy, increase productivity, create good new jobs all around the country, invest in skills, research and technology, whilst also ensuring our energy security and taking action to bring down energy bills. We see a future where a prosperous United Kingdom is powered by clean, innovative technology, delivered by resilient and modern systems and no-one is left behind.

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Important report from Nesta on how to increase low carbon heating in the UK. Two main top line recommendations: 1. Clarity for households and businesses on direction of travel including ending confusion on hydrogen and a deadline for end of fossil fuel use for home heating. 2. Make low carbon heating the go to option for boiler replacement by rebalancing energy bills, support with installation costs (subsidies and zero interest loans) and increasing consumer confidence by improving installation and providing consumer protection.

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The Working Groups focus on all JTF regions (coal and carbon-intensive) to leave no one behind. Our role as a Just Transition Ambassador is to delve into the issues of proper implementation of the Just Transition Fund (JTF) and bring together a varied group of stakeholders to closely monitor the just transition process, share competencies, and formulate guidelines for the implementation of JTF projects linked to their area of competences. Honoured to co-operate with European Experts Just Transition on the issues of common interest and challenge. #JustTransition, #JustTransitionPlatform, #CohesionPolicy, #EUinmyRegion

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The latest issue of Energy Matters is available to read and download now 🥳 https://lnkd.in/dtNmtAsn Issue 17 features: ✅ Government Releases Landmark Proposal to Reform EPCs ✅ Grenfell Report: A wake-up call for the energy assessment industry ✅ Important Deadline Approaches for Renewing DECs ✅ Tracking the Transition to SAP 10 ✅ Training Update and more! #EnergyMatters #EPCReform

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Terminally ill people can face high energy costs when they are least able to mange them. It is often difficult to target affordability support to those that really need it. But this report, written by Grace Remmington, Jane Williams and David Eiser, has identified a mechanism to do that in this circumstance. Consumer Scotland recommends the Scottish Government targets extra support through the Special Rules for Terminal Illness, which allow for quicker access to benefits. This report also makes recommendations that energy affordability support should be provided to disabled people, particularly those limited a lot by their disability, to reflect their higher energy needs and, that the UK and Scottish Governments should review support schemes to achieve that.

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If The Labour Party wants to transform British energy, they need to focus on the grid, not generation. Here's my take, published in the Financial Times today. £200 billion of projects are waiting in the grid connection queue, which is 5 years delayed on average according to Ofgem and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Generation also only represents ~30-35% of electricity bills - costs from transmission and distribution are likely to increase, given significant upgrade requirements to accommodate renewables and electrification of transport and heat. Focusing on supporting nascent technologies, planning reforms and the grid could help far more than funding projects that private investors are already waiting to build. Subscribe for more updates from me on energy and ESG at https://lnkd.in/expN3mWH #GreatBritishEnergy https://lnkd.in/e74u7gqK

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Together with Welsh Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies and Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero Gillian Martin here’s our take on the UK NDC announcement from PM Starmer today at Baku. Scotland and Wales are critical partners to the efforts in the UK as has been seen through their phenomenal leadership in the #Under2Coalition. https://lnkd.in/eBFewwHQ My quick take: We welcome the UK’s ambitious commitment to an 81% emissions reduction by 2035 as part of its updated NDC. It's an important step in the right direction, now others need to follow suit. The UK's strong emphasis on national security as a driver of climate action underscores a crucial reality: there is no national security without addressing the climate crisis head-on. We'd like to have seen more clarity on how the 2030 NDC will be achieved, and new funding for climate justice. It's critical that the UK government delivers clear, actionable pathways and additional resources for climate action, particularly for the most vulnerable communities. This will require not only national leadership but also partnerships with devolved nations and governments across all levels to ensure that the UK meets its climate targets while ensuring a just and equitable transition for all

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How can we accelerate the UK's transition to net zero? Nesta’s UK 2040 Options consulted leading energy and net zero experts to debate and test 10 ways to get back on track with carbon budgets - including collective switching to low carbon heat, agricultural land reform and legislative targets for climate adaptation

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Our first investigation will seek to identify ways to deliver better protections and confidence for consumers in low carbon and energy efficiency markets

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Alongside operating within SSE plc’s Just Transition framework – Our commitment to Social Value is embedded in diverse practices that can contribute to a better world. Our Social Value strategy is designed to champion a fair and just transition through both activity and measurement of improvement. Click through the carousel below to learn more about our key activities that form the pillars of our strategy. #SSEEnergySolutions #DecarbonisingTransport #DecarbonisingHeat #DecarbonisingEnergy #DigitisingNetZero

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Is delivering the energy transition the hottest topic in utilities right now?🔥 Ben Wilson, Chief Strategy & External Affairs Officer, National Grid is live on Green Stage giving his keynote 'Delivering the energy transition: a view from National Grid’. Join him now to discover what the road to Net Zero holds. #FoUSummit24 #energy #utilites #NetZero #energytransition  

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New report out! -💡‘Cheap, Clean Electricity for Great Britain by 2030'💡 Great Britain needs to get off gas and rapidly build a low-cost, clean electricity system. Yesterday we launched our new report which sets out a framework for how this can be achieved, using the Labour Government’s 2030 clean power target as the guiding star. This is the result of 6 months spent thinking and talking with lots of you (thanks for all the insights). Its chock full of recommendations. We've summarised these in the diagram below. Super speedy summary - https://lnkd.in/exRYKATn Full report - https://lnkd.in/eXuv4xjs

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There should be clawback laws for these 'parasitic capitalists' - take back the multimillion bonuses paid out to the CEOs of privatised water companies which have milked their captive customers without providing the services for that money. It's theft by a different name. And it contributes to societal breakdown - because why should poor people who have to resort to petty theft to feed their children have to feel the full force of the law while giant criminals like this get away scot-free? The social contract only survives if it it seen to be fair. "It would be adding insult to injury if any help whatsoever was given to these arrogant bosses and parasitic capitalists. Bankruptcy is the cure for incompetent and predatory business. We have travelled in a short period of time from a locally owned and transparent industry whose purpose was to provide domestic and industrial water supplies and sewage services, to one whose main purpose was to supply easy money to hedge funds and foreign governments."

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Here is a free-to-view link to my 60 years history of what happened to the Smeed Report on Road Pricing, which I summarised at the UCL and Road User Charging Conference earlier this month. https://lnkd.in/dBwag_cw It focuses on changing ideas about the relationship between road pricing and wider transport policy, especially how the discussion on hypothecation of revenues merged with the discussion on wider objectives of transport and environmental policy. Landmarks of the history include the move away from from Margaret Thatcher's 'Roads for Prosperity' road programme in 1989, the New Realism in 1991, Sactra on Induced traffic in 1994, and the part convergence of Conservative and Labour strategies culminating in John Prescott's 'New Deal for Transport' in 1997-8, congestion charging in London, a major DfT study in 2004, Eddington in 2006 (and its little noticed Research Annex, written by DfT officials, showing that road pricing would radically reduce the size of the road programme assumed to be needed), the consistently important work of the Parliamentary Transport Committee - and including reference to some academic contributions by my colleagues Glenn Lyons, Jillian Anable, Graham Parkhurst, Greg Marsden, Peter Jones and myself. I suggest 4 axioms First Axiom: It is a paradox to plan to use road pricing to fund a road programme which would not be necessary if you had road pricing. Second Axiom: Road Pricing is not inevitable. It would be foolish beyond belief to delay other practical, sustainable and sensible policies on the assumption that road pricing is imminent. The application of demand management measures will need to be more intense if the price signals do not support them. Third Axiom: Road pricing is possible, and likely. Logically we should therefore meanwhile include ‘a future with road pricing’ as a key possible scenario in re-appraising current and inherited major projects and policies. Fourth Axiom: A future without road pricing presents serious problems which are not easier to solve than the problems of implementing it. I'd like to work up and expand these axioms - comments and suggestions welcome! Silviya Barrett, Steve Gooding Steve Norris, Zeina Nazer, P.Eng M.Sc. MBA Andrew Crudgington, Anable Ben Plowden

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Are we advancing too rapidly toward Net Zero targets, or are we lagging behind? Reflecting on my role as Net Zero Minister in the Department for Levelling Up in 2021, it was a privilege to speak at COP26 on changes that I introduced to Building Regulations, focusing on fuel, power, and ventilation. These changes were intended to cut carbon emissions from new homes by 31% compared to the 2013 baseline, and set the stage for the Future Homes Standard coming in 2025. Now we are in the early days of COP29, where the Prime Minister plans to push for an ambitious reduction of UK carbon emissions by 81% (from 1990 levels) by 2035—up from the previous target of 78%. The challenges facing social housing providers are front of mind. Many are grappling with the substantial costs of retrofitting aging stock to meet these stringent standards, and I’m concerned that the funding may not be sufficient to meet our shared goals. What are your thoughts on the balance between urgency and feasibility in achieving Net Zero? #COP29 #SocialHousing #NetZero #housebuilding

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Helpful summary of the main parties' manifesto commitments on democratic ownership and co-operatives 👇 Big emphasis on community energy across the board ⚡ Very welcome to see Labour promising that GB Energy will invite communities to come forward and propose their own clean energy projects. With more participatory decision-making tools and frameworks out there than ever (including New Citizen Project's own RAPID Democracy framework), there's a real chance there to engage lots more citizens to participate in the shared ownership of vital clean energy assets. If it works, it could stimulate even more community ownership across the board. Also, I'm biased because I'm a Green Party member and was invited to pitch some ideas for the manifesto, but I particularly like the Greens' commitments for: 💰 a Co-operative Development Fund 🌞 A minimum threshold of community ownership in all sustainable energy infrastructure, so green energy doesn't end up entirely in private hands ➡ Making it easier for companies to become mutuals at moments of succession As always, making democratic ownership work means investing properly in building participatory skills and cultures, rather than just providing funds or generic "business support". I suggested only half-jokingly to a Green Party policy advisor that we should bring back National Service, but this time with young people forced to serve as society secretaries and membership engagement officers at their local community-owned pub 😅 (The *really* big idea is to link community-owned energy infrastructure with community-owned social infrastructure, so that the solar panels in the village fields also help sustain the village pub...) https://lnkd.in/e_d7dzTF

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Fizzy report from the engineers says public support is the #1 priority for clean power by 2030. Hard agree. We’ve argued for ages that the technical stuff on climate only happens fast and well if people are on board. More than on board really. A generally held common sense expectation that this will be done - like schools and the NHS. The last government kind of got that but ideology often meant they only supported consumer bling things, not the wider strategic comms muscle that this kind of visioning needs. The project needs a brilliant story and one that connects the stuff people already think (climate important, nature good, investing in stuff good, chop chop) with more tangibly held things (my jobs / my family / my landscape). It needs an everyday corps of trusted messengers - engineers and the mechanics and the hairdressers and the colleges and the etc etc. and it should be real, and true. And it needs principles of fast but sincere early engagement where the local politics is fiddly and the details are genuinely up for grabs. You save yourself a hell of a lot of later hassle and expense by giving people a say on the *how* which they see playing out. In some cases that may mean going slower for a bit to go faster later on. Hit me up if you want to do some fun work on all this.

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💡 Our latest report, Workforce Assessment for Power and Networks, highlights the significant skills gaps in the UK’s power and networks sector and the urgent need to address them. Produced in collaboration with CITB, ECITB, EDF Energy, and RenewableUK, it outlines projected labour demand, and the specific skills and solutions required to meet the UK’s clean energy ambitions. #LabourMarketInsights #NetZeroSkills #UKPowerSector #SustainableCareers #CleanEnergyTransition #SkillsForTheFuture #NetZero 📢 Read more: https://bit.ly/3BaUMgC

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