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Energy independence must be a priority - for The Inverness Courier
HOUSEHOLDS across the Highlands will be paying a lot more for electricity this week after Scottish and Southern Electricity — which owns Hydro Electric — became the latest energy company to introduce swingeing rises for its customers. The 20 per cent rise in electricity prices, coming on top of earlier rises, will hit families who are already struggling with rising fuel and food prices.
On Thursday of last week, the oil price — which has been falling recently — rose sharply by five per cent as a result of growing tension between the US and Russia after the conflict in Georgia. More and more of our gas and oil comes from unstable, undemocratic, or untrustworthy regimes across the world — particularly in Russia and the Middle East. Whatever some of our politicians might like us to believe, we cannot rely on the North Sea to meet our energy needs.
This problem is going to get worse. We have seen in recent years how Russia likes to use its energy resources as a pretty blunt tool of foreign policy. Countries including Ukraine, Georgia, and the Baltic states have seen prices suddenly increased or supply cut off because the Kremlin did not like something that country was doing.
Germany's weak-kneed response to the aggression in Georgia shows that the fear of Russian energy being cut off is already infecting some countries in the EU. We need to act now to prevent the Britain of 20 years time paying an even higher price for such dependence in future.
But how can Britain's energy independence be delivered? This week Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg set out an ambitious blueprint for securing that goal — and tackling climate change too — by huge investment to harness the power of the sea. Offshore wind farms should be developed to a much greater extent.
But even more importantly, the emerging technology to exploit wave and tidal energy should be supported by the government the way nuclear was half a century ago. Just as Britain invested in the North Sea in the 1970s to transform our energy prospects through oil production, we must today make similar investment in renewable technologies to harness Britain's vast renewable energy resources.
We have an enormous opportunity to create real energy independence for the UK, freeing ourselves from the shackles of foreign oil, coal and gas. But it will require the leadership and vision that has been lacking under years of tired Labour thinking. This will require the kind of ambition and political will that succeeded in putting man on the moon. But not taking action now will be even more costly.
LIFELINE AIR LINKS
The likely sale of Gatwick Airport by BAA — having been told by the regulator that this huge company owning seven of the UK's biggest airports needs to be broken up — has significant implications for Inverness. People who travel through London airports regularly are unimpressed by the quality of customer service and hope that competition could improve this.
But more importantly, the links between Inverness and London are vitally important for the local economy. The reliable three-times-a-day FlyBe service to Gatwick is now the mainstay of that connection for business, the Heathrow connection having recently been lost.
The government has the opportunity to ensure that a continued frequent service to Inverness is a condition of sale. I have asked Scottish ministers to apply again for a Public Service Obligation on this route, the previous application having been rebuffed by UK government. There is no threat to it now — Flybe is committed to expanding its services through Inverness. But you never know what the future holds, and in a few years we might well have cause to be grateful for taking this opportunity now.
Posted on: 26/08/2008
