Less Waste, More Growth: over half of UK electricity supply wasted before it's even used

By Ivan Scrase, Senior Climate Change Policy Officer

As a whole, the UK electricity system wastes a staggering £9.5 billion from the loss of energy before it reaches homes and businesses.

To tackle climate change we know we need new energy sources, such as wind and solar power, and that we need to make sure these are developed in harmony with nature. We also need to cut energy waste - to get emissions down and to limit the total amount of new infrastructure we will need.

Less Waste, More Growth: Boosting energy productivity is published today by a coalition of 14 organisations, including those that represent industrial manufacturers and leading environmental groups such as the RSPB and Greenpeace.

From environmental advocates to large-scale industrial energy users to building service providers, we are able to agree on the opportunity energy productivity provides to create jobs, reduce costs and help the environment.

The analysis, led by the Association for Decentralised Energy, identifies the total loss of energy is worth the equivalent of £354 per household, more than half the average UK annual electricity bill (£592).

This waste equals the power generated by: 37 nuclear power stations; a landmass the size of England of bioenergy crops; or wind turbines covering 40% of Scotland.

The report outlines a number of immediate, practical and cost-effective ways of reducing this waste, which could save the equivalent of £116 on every householder’s energy bill; a total of over £3 billion a year.

• Inherited from the public system of the 1960s and 70s, less than 10% of UK power stations currently recover waste heat, and this represents a missed opportunity to save £2 billion annually.
• The UK could save the equivalent of £23 per household just by upgrading our electricity network's efficiency to match that of Germany's.
• Appropriate, long term policy support could cost-effectively reduce business and public sector bills by £570 million, improving competitiveness and investment.

The report outlines three main recommendations to help achieve these savings.

1. Government should aim to improve energy system productivity year on year as is done in competitor countries like the United States and Germany, with the purpose of reducing energy costs for users.

2. Electricity generators, networks and businesses should be able to contribute to a strong, more productive economy. For business, this means combining a revised energy tax regime with clear, simple and investable policy to leverage improvements in energy productivity

3.  Government should enhance the natural market direction with a more solution-based approach to its energy policy assessments, allowing the demand side and the supply side to compete equally. 

The full report can be read and downloaded here: www.lesswastemoregrowth.co.uk/report