As UK parliament returns from summer recess this week, Andy Burnham faces a familiar set of political headaches, chief among them, an energy bills crisis that shows no sign of easing.
Time for Honesty?
A turbulent summer in global energy markets saw a US-Iran ‘ceasefire’ agreement collapse in mid-August, after a series of strikes through July pushed prices higher come the end of the summer. Brent crude averaged $91.08 per barrel in August, up from $83.76 in July, while UK NBP gas averaged around 165p/therm, up from 125-140p/therm at the start of August. For new Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, the volatility has provided a convenient scapegoat for the UK’s energy bill woes: Donald Trump’s actions in the Middle East.
Burnham moved quickly to ease the pressure on households, scrapping VAT on electricity bills within a day of taking office. However, the modest £45 saving per household was wiped out by summer’s end, as the 4% rise to the price cap from 1 October pushed the typical household bill to £1,723. Businesses face similar pain: rising UK NBP forward gas prices for Winter-26 delivery mean higher gas and electricity bills, since the UK’s marginal price-setting mechanism ties electricity costs to gas. Supplier forecasts suggest this elevated energy cost will persist until the end of the decade, prompting many analysts to urge Burnham toward a simple approach: honesty.
It’s a call we at LG Energy Group have made too. Honesty about why UK commodity prices outpace those paid by other EU nations. Honesty about the non-commodity charges driven by infrastructure upgrades and Clean Power 2030 targets. Honesty about the levies funding nuclear infrastructure. And honesty about the fiscal cost that bill-support schemes add for businesses who don’t qualify for support. Together, these pressures have created a perfect storm across both the commodity and non-commodity elements of every energy bill.
The political risk of staying quiet is real. Without honest explanations, opposition parties, such as the Conservatives and Reform, will fill the vacuum with narratives blaming ‘net zero policies and levies’ for rising bills. This risks eroding public and business support for the net zero agenda at precisely the moment it’s needed most, underscored by record-breaking summer of heatwaves which resulted in the UK’s hottest summer on record.
Are There Solutions?
Many experts point to successive governments’ lack of honesty as the root of the crisis, arguing that multiple levers will need to be pulled to fix it. So, what options does Burnham’s government actually have?
In the short term, cutting certain levies, tackling energy debt, and offering reactive pricing tariffs that reward cheaper & cleaner usage could each shave around £100 off typical bills. Longer term, redesigning the market altogether may appeal to Burnham, who has long argued that privatisation lies at the heart of the UK’s economic troubles. Under the current system, consumers pay the highest clearing price whenever supply spikes occur, a frequent occurrence this decade, letting suppliers and producers pocket outsized profits at the expense of households and businesses. Something that LG Energy Group has frequently called for is the decoupling gas and electricity prices and hope it is something which Burnham investigates to ensure that the disparity with nations such as France and Germany, who pay nearly half what the UK does per MWh of energy, is narrowed. Further radical approaches that have been suggested by analysts include the government acting as sole buyer of electricity, a model which research suggests could save billions in public energy procurement. Another thorny issue is the Crown Estate’s monopoly ownership of the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which earned it £875m from wind developers in 2025 alone. Greenpeace research suggests this arrangement is significantly inflating energy bills; a problem Burnham may want to address given government plans to quadruple offshore wind capacity by 2030.
None of these measures alone will dramatically cut UK energy bills, but together they would signal a proactive government. With geopolitical instability continuing to rumble on in Ukraine and the Middle East, meaningful relief may depend as much on world events as domestic policy. What Burnham can control, however, is how honestly his government communicates the crisis, its causes and the trade-offs that may be needed to keep UK households and businesses competitive, especially when fiscal wriggle room continues to be a challenge. It’s already widely accepted that the 95% clean power target for 2030 won’t be met, with 80-85% now the more realistic outcome, a fact that honesty could address head-on.
The stakes of staying silent are high, not just for Burnham’s approval ratings, but for the UK’s progress on net zero and climate action. Any dramatic reversal would set back the climate fight and cost the UK economy dearly in wasted time, spending and policy.