Wednesday 29 June 2022

“The main challenge right now is rising energy costs”

Millions of customers and businesses are concerned about whether and how the current energy crisis, which resembles the oil crisis and the high inflation of the early seventies, will impact net zero plans.

This concern was echoed by Phil Manock, Head of Sales and Business Development at British Gas – which works in partnership with Centrica Business Solutions, who spoke to Sumit Bose, the Founder of future Net Zero during The Big Zero Show at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Mr Manock said: "I think the main challenge right now is rising energy costs. Only 12 to 18 months ago, a customer spending a million pounds a year for the same energy today is probably spending three million pounds a year.

"Part of the situation is to help customers through that energy crisis with solutions that we can try and find through better energy purchase or looking at how we can decarbonise and reduce energy costs more differently, it's about where they are wasting energy?

"We are investing £500 million in building a 900MW portfolio of solar and battery storage assets by 2026.

"Our investments will help to transform the UK’s energy landscape. It means we will be able to give British businesses access to zero-carbon solar energy; while using battery storage to help the grid manage the challenges of becoming more reliant on intermittent renewable energy generation."

Click the video to watch the interview in full.