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> Electricity prices would still be through the roof. The prices are all set on the international markets. Only to the extent that electricity can be imported
by leg100 4y ago
> Electricity prices would still be through the roof. The prices are all set on the international markets.
Only to the extent that electricity can be imported and exported via international connectors, which are of course limited in their capacity.
Prices are not set internationally, but domestically. Energy is not a tangible, stored commodity like coal which is internationally priced.
If what you said was true then America's electricity would be priced the same as Europe's, whereas it is way cheaper.
Therefore building out additional electricity production in the UK could well lower prices, depending on matching of demand and supply, agreed prices in contracts, length of contracts, etc, and of course whether additional connectors are deployed.
- 7952 4y agoGas prices are a big component of electricity prices at the moment and they are mostly imported.
- makomk 4y agoThere's actually a similar but much more widespread talking point about gas, claiming the price of that is set on the international market and therefore the UK producing more gas locally would not help reduce prices. That should come with the exact same caveats (only to the extent that it can be imported and exported, American prices are much cheaper for Europe's because of this, and that's likely a big reason why electricity prices are much lower there) but the mainstream media unfortunately ignores them.
- 7952 4y agoThere is also a caveat that any cost savings from locality may be wiped out by higher costs in other areas. It may well be cheaper to invest in the US or Middle East and import as LPG. Transport costs are only one factor. And it is not like domestic supply would have no transport costs either. Running pipelines through rural England to fracking sites is not exactly cheap.