Households living within 500 metres of new pylons will receive £2,500 off their energy bills over 10 years, Andy Burnham has confirmed. The discount forms part of a raft of new pylon projects announced by the Prime Minister, including Bramford to Twinstead in East Anglia, the North London Reinforcement project, and the Emmock substation in north east Scotland.
Grid upgrade and clean energy push
The Government is pushing ahead with upgrades to the country's outdated electricity grid, paving the way for new sources of clean electricity generation to connect to the network. This move aims to strengthen energy security, reduce bills, and tackle climate change. The pylon discount is designed to compensate residents living near the new infrastructure.
The announcement comes as the Labour Party government faces pressure over the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil fields. Areeba Hamid, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, criticised media coverage, saying: "Sections of the media just keep repeating myths and lies. We are expecting a fifth summer heatwave, wild fires are burning the country, oil and gas companies are posting billions in profits, while the rightwing press and fossil fuel companies are pushing for Rosebank and Jackdaw approval. It's pure cognitive dissonance."
Jackdaw jobs figure questioned
According to an environmental impact assessment filed publicly by Adura, a joint venture between Shell and Norway's Equinor, only 27 direct full-time jobs would be created by Jackdaw, one of the biggest gasfields remaining in the North Sea. The document states: "Over the lifetime of the field there would be a consistent level of employment averaging at nearly 500 jobs a year in direct, indirect and induced employment – this includes 273 direct jobs which exist on the Shearwater host installation and [an] additional 27 Jackdaw-specific jobs."
Angharad Hopkinson, a political campaigner at Greenpeace, which uncovered the Jackdaw jobs figure, said: "Fossil fuel cheerleaders have repeatedly defended new oil and gas developments by claiming they are vital for employment. Those claims look increasingly difficult to justify when the developer's own documents tell a very different story."
Criticism from campaign groups
Tessa Khan, the executive director of Uplift, a campaign group, said: "It would be a mistake if the first thing Andy Burnham does as prime minister is cave into the demands of the profiteering oil and gas industry. These are companies that have made obscene profits, while our energy costs have skyrocketed. New North Sea drilling will not take a penny off our bills, it will just make a handful of executives and their shareholders even richer."
The pylon discount is part of a wider effort to modernise the grid and support renewable energy connections. The new projects are expected to facilitate the integration of clean power sources, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and lowering long-term energy costs for consumers.
