The UK's Energy Crisis
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 23 September 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has said there is 'no question of the lights going out' this winter as a result of a huge rise in gas prices. But many smaller energy companies are struggling to stay afloat as they are unable to pass on the higher wholesale costs of gas to their customers because of the energy price cap. Labour has accused the government of complacency when it comes to energy supplies. Some Conservatives have warned of a tricky winter ahead. So what lies behind the current problems, and what can be done to stop it happening again?
Joining David Aaronovitch are :
David Sheppard, Energy Editor at the Financial Times Dr Sharon George, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science, University of Keele Michael Bradshaw Professor of Global Energy at the Warwick Business School Sir Dieter Helm, Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford
Producers: John Murphy, Kirsteen Knight, Soila Apparicio Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot Editor: Jasper Corbett
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:04.9 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich. |
| 0:07.8 | The briefing room, 28 minutes in which you and I get the top experts to explain a big issue of the day. |
| 0:14.4 | This week, energy prices are shooting up, energy companies are going bust. |
| 0:20.3 | Why? |
| 0:20.7 | And what does it tell us about the big |
| 0:22.9 | new buzzword, our resilience? By breakfast this morning, two more energy suppliers had gone bust. |
| 0:34.6 | Avroenergy and Green had 830,000 customers and therefore probably supplied the energy needs |
| 0:40.9 | of 2 million people. They're just the latest and they won't be the last. Wholesale gas prices |
| 0:47.3 | have shot up, catching these companies cold and if prices stay up and we get a freezing winter, |
| 0:52.9 | then that chill could spread. |
| 0:55.3 | So why has this happened? What's going to happen next? |
| 0:58.8 | And what does it tell us about Britain's energy supply and infrastructure? |
| 1:03.0 | Step into the briefing room. Together we'll find out. |
| 1:08.0 | The business and energy secretary, Kwazi QWERarteng told the House of Commons this week |
| 1:12.3 | that the UK wasn't suffering a supply issue, but a pricing one. |
| 1:16.9 | That would suggest this is a nasty blip, pricing being a shorter-term issue than supply. |
| 1:22.9 | But is that what's happening? |
| 1:24.8 | And what's the bigger picture? |
| 1:27.4 | First, let's explore the immediate reasons for the crisis. |
| 1:31.2 | Here's a report from the briefing room's John Murphy. |
| 1:35.5 | A massive rise in the wholesale costs paid by energy firms raises fears about a winter crisis. |
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