Ed Miliband 'not going to take a decision' on zonal energy prices that will raise bills in some parts of Britain
24 April 2025, 10:20
Ed Miliband said he would not take a decision that would raise energy prices in some parts of the country.
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Speaking to LBC about zonal pricing, the Energy Secretary said: "I'm not going to take a decision that is going to raise prices in some parts of the country. That is not what I'm going to do.
"Honestly, this is about reforms to cut prices for people, that is my absolute bottom line here."
He earlier said: "People are speculating that we've made a decision. We haven't made a decision, but we're carefully assessing this."
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Mr Miliband also told LBC the Government was taking steps to decouple energy cost from global gas prices.
"We're getting off that situation where gas sets the price for such a large proportion of the time and we don't get the benefits of cheap, clean, homegrown power," he said.
The Government will make a "calm and considered decision" on whether to shake up the UK's energy market and move towards different prices for different areas of the UK, Ed Miliband said.
The Energy Secretary is reported to be considering zonal pricing, which some newspaper reports have said could lead to higher bills in the South East of England, while other areas may get cheaper energy.
Asked about the move earlier, Mr Miliband said: "We're still looking at the details of this, which is something we've got to really get right, and we are studying in detail the effect.
"My bottom line here is we want to cut bills, and we want to do so in a way that's fair, and we want to make sure that happens, and that's my test for any reforms that we make.
"There's very strong views on both sides of industry, as you'll probably have gathered on this. People are fighting it out.
"We're going to take this, make a calm and considered decision on this."
