Labour has pledged to kickstart clean energy projects within months if elected to “turn the page” on the cost-of-living crisis.

Sir Keir Starmer will warn that that “family financial security depends on energy security” as he promotes plans to create Great British Energy, a publicly-owned firm that would invest in domestic power sources.

Here, i takes a look at Labour’s proposal and whether it will reduce energy bills.

What is the Great British Energy plan?

Labour’s six-point “first steps” policy includes a pledge to set up Great British Energy.

Early investments will include wind and solar projects across the UK, as well as plans to make Scotland a world leader in new technologies such as floating offshore wind, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen.

The company will be headquartered in Scotland and paid for by a windfall tax on big oil and gas firms, with initial funding of £8.3bn over a parliament, the party has said.

Labour has pledged to decarbonise the UK by 2030, while the Conservatives target 2035 for net zero energy supply.

Fossil fuels made up 33 per cent of the UK’s total electricity supplies last year.

What has Labour said?

Labour says its plan will lower bills because “renewables are far cheaper than gas”.

On its website, it says: “Great British Energy is part of Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan to create 650,000 good jobs, cut bills by £300 on average and deliver real energy security.”

Labour says the Office of Budget Responsibility has warned that if the UK remains dependent on gas, families and taxpayers could see a repeat of the recent crisis.

The party accused the Tories of leaving households at risk of a £900 annual energy price rise.

Starmer said: “Family financial security depends on energy security.

“The pain and misery of the cost-of-living crisis was directly caused by the Tories’ failure to make Britain resilient, leaving us at the mercy of fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators like Putin.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Our clean power mission with Great British Energy will take back control of our destiny and invest in cheap, clean homegrown energy that we control.”

Ed Miliband, shadow energy security and net zero secretary, said: “Great British Energy will kick-start our mission for clean power to lower bills and boost our energy independence.

“It’s time to move on from the Tories’ bone-headed opposition to clean energy, for which British families are paying the price.”

How could the plans reduce energy bills?

Labour’s plan has been endorsed by former government chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

He wrote in The Times: “The prize is huge, lower energy bills, good jobs, more innovative businesses, energy security and climate leadership.”

“If we choose to go slowly, others will provide the answers and we will ultimately end up buying the solutions rather than selling them,” he said.

“Getting to a clean power system fast and with appropriate technologies is an investment, not simply a cost.

“And being self-sufficient in energy will mean that our country is never again left so exposed by our dependency on an unstable international fossil fuel market.”

Sir Patrick said the UK’s rapid success in delivering a Covid vaccine offered a blueprint for how the Government, academia and industry could come together to speed of Britain’s clean energy transition.

Alasdair Johnstone from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit said the UK has spent £100bn on gas during the energy crisis of the last few years, with the costs borne by bill and tax payers.

He said: “With prices set to go up again in October, there will be a need to insulate from more gas price volatility. This means using less gas and more British renewables along with insulating homes so they leak less heat.”

Max Wakefield, co-director of climate charity Possible, said lifting the ban on onshore wind is a quick and cheap action and will bring down bills.

Labour has said it will overturn the ban “at the stroke of a pen”. The Tories said they already did this by updating planning rules last September but critics argued that the change did not go far enough to encourage applications.

What are the warnings it could increase costs?

Some have raised questions about Labour’s claim that its plan would cut energy bills by £300.

Ofgem, the energy regulator, said earlier this week that energy bills are not expected to fall substantially over the decade partly because of the costs of expanding the electricity network to support more renewable sources.

Chief executive Mark McAllister told the Financial Times: “If we look at the forecasts for wholesale prices and then build on top of that the costs of the network going forward, I think we see something in our view that is relatively flat in the medium term.”

While he did not address Labour’s plans specifically, his comments suggest there are extra costs to transitioning away from renewables – such as cables and pylons to support wind and solar farms.

However, he also said it was in the “interest of consumers” to reach net zero not only because of prices but also energy security.

The Conservatives have suggested that a move away from domestic oil and gas could lead to families paying more.

Claire Coutinho, Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, said Labour’s promise was funded and would cost taxpayers.

She attacked the party’s moves to stop new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, claiming it would hit jobs.

She said: “By sticking to the Conservatives’ clear plan, energy bills are at the lowest point since 2022, but we must go further.

“That’s why we are taking bold action to guarantee the future of the energy price cap, as we back new nuclear power and offshore wind, keeping bills low and ensuring families are not lumbered with the cost of reaching net zero.”

On the other hand, the Green Party said the plans do not go far enough and risk leaving Britain reliant on fossil fuels.

Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: “We need real change if we are to meet the demands of the climate crisis. These Labour plans do not deliver it.

“Compared to Labour’s original commitment to spend £28bn a year on green investment, this announcement of just £8.3bn over the course of the parliament looks tiny and is nowhere near enough to deliver Labour’s promise of ‘clean electricity’.”

Offshore Energies UK, a trade body that represents oil and gas firms, claimed up to 42,000 jobs and £26bn of economic value would be lost under Labour’s windfall tax plans.

The UK already has a windfall tax but Labour has said it will cut some of the investment incentives and raise the tax on profits from 75 per cent to 78 per cent.