Global conflict keeps pushing up UK energy bills – homegrown renewables are our way out

As long as the UK depends on fossil fuels imported from volatile regions, we leave our households and businesses at the mercy of global events we cannot control.

Natural gas and oil prices spiked on Monday, not triggered by anything happening on our shores, but by escalating tensions thousands of miles away. QatarEnergy, one of the world’s biggest exporters, stopped production following attacks on its facilities, while ships were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz. Markets fear further supply disruption. Tanker routes through the world’s most critical chokepoint for oil suddenly look less secure.

The result? Higher wholesale energy prices here at home.

This is not a one‑off. It is part of a pattern. The UK’s energy bills spiked painfully after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine because we are a net importer of gas. In late 2023, Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and unrest across the Middle East sent prices soaring again. Every new crisis underscores the same basic vulnerability: fossil fuels are globally traded commodities, and their prices are set by international supply and demand, not by UK policy or production.

Even if we dramatically expanded North Sea extraction, the oil and gas would still be sold on global markets. The idea that the UK can insulate itself from global price shocks by drilling more is simply wrong.

What these repeated crises do show is that we urgently need an energy security strategy that makes sense for an island nation blessed with abundant natural resources of its own. Wind and solar power are not exposed to geopolitical volatility. They do not require us to rely on unstable regimes. And we already know how to deploy them at scale: renewables have grown from 6.7 per cent of the UK’s electricity supply in 2010 to almost half of it in 2025.

But we must go further and faster. Right now, hundreds of clean energy projects are stuck in grid queues, waiting a decade or more to connect. National Grid has acknowledged that significant reform is needed to unlock this bottleneck.

A more immediate opportunity is in our homes themselves. The government should prioritise giving households the clarity and confidence they need to invest in clean technologies today. That means publishing timely, practical details on essential components of the Warm Homes Plan so families can see exactly what support is coming and when.

Homes equipped with solar panels, batteries and heat pumps cut demand for imported gas and offer households meaningful protection from the next global price shock, whenever and wherever it comes. Renewables won’t solve every challenge overnight. But they are our single best bet for reducing exposure to global turbulence and building a more secure, resilient energy system.

The turmoil in the Middle East is a stark reminder that relying on imported fossil fuels keeps us trapped in a cycle of crisis‑driven price spikes. Backing British renewables is how we break free.

____________________

Nigel Pocklington is CEO of the UK renewable energy company, Good Energy.

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email opinion@lbc.co.uk