Energy minister pleads for patience

Power blackouts and even higher utility bills were a certainty without low carbon legislation like carbon floor pricing, Hendry warned. Speaking exclusively to WM, he said: "We have to build a new infrastructure or the first people who are going to suffer are industrial users....they are the ones who'll have their gas supplies interrupted. There is a price to security of supply but it's nothing like the cost of insecurity." Hendry voiced sympathy for UK manufacturers who've cited capricious energy prices as a competitive barrier to EU rivals over the past year. The government had pledged a £250m electricity rebate package in its autumn statement to help manufacturers in energy-intensive sectors, he said. Meanwhile, non-qualifying manufacturers who pay the fifth highest electricity prices in the EU must seek savings from greater energy efficiency, Hendry advised. "If you look at the cost per unit we're still cheaper than most [other EU countries]. But if you look at how many units we consume, because we're less energy efficient than other countries we end up consuming more." The UK's energy strategy was delivering low carbon, affordable energy, Hendry claimed. The coalition had been left with a legacy of underinvestment and ageing power generating resources, he added. Controversial schemes like carbon floor pricing scheme, which will charge manufacturers £16 per tonne of C02 emitted from 2013, aimed to provide long term certainty over carbon prices, Hendry explained. This continuity was vital to driving investor confidence and landing the £200 billion needed to upgrade the UK's energy infrastructure, he added. The minister backed nuclear power as a key strand of future energy generation with eight sites planned by 2025. Read the full interview in WM's January issue.