Graeme Murray

Hi @energygovuk can we do this and quickly before the summer price cap? Decoupling elec an gas are the only way to minimize the oil and gas crisis from impacting every part of our economy. #EnergyShock common-wealth.org/publications/c…

@samm50647 @Ed_Miliband Then perhaps we shouldn't have sold it all off in the 1980s

@Ed_Miliband Power doesn’t heat homes that have gas boilers. Gas heats homes that have gas boilers. The UK needs gas from the North Sea

We’re investing £64m to transform Port Talbot into Wales' first floating offshore wind hub. That means 5,000 good jobs, £500m of investment and enough clean power for 6.5m homes. We are putting Wales at the heart of our clean energy superpower mission. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

@MartinSLewis Which brings us back to the stupidity of the council tax brackets. They should have signalled the reform back last year rather than dithering.

How would the govt intervene to cut energy bills if needed? Its worth looking at the two previous domestic energy models we saw in recent years. 1. Liz Truss (as PM) reduce energy costs for all. The Energy Price Guarantee reduced bills by limiting the unit rates charged for gas and electricity, with the government saying this would keep (the then definition of a) typical household bill to about £2,500/yr. This was a very expensive route for the state, as it meant all bills were reduced, and by definition the biggest users got the biggest subsidies. Though it did mean everyone got helped. 2. Rishi Sunak (as Chancellor) flat help for all and targeted support. Before that happened there had already been support in place. It comprised a menu of help for different people across slightly different times. Roughly... - £400 grant for domestic electricity users paid over 6mths - £150 council tax rebate for those on Council Tax Band A to D (seen as a proxy for lower incomes) - £650 for those on certain means-tested benefits - £300 top-up for state pensioners - £150 payment for those on certain non-means-tested disability benefits. This was still costly, but not as much, as it was targeted, and the amounts were flat so lower users got the same help as higher. ---------- My suspicion is the current govt is more likely to look at the second version as a model for what it does (though it doesn't look like the payments spread would be as wide or as big)

@DrSimEvans What's your view on the proposals from @Cmmonwealth for market changes?

😬UK gas prices just hit highest level since 2022😬 At current prices… * New wind & solar from latest "AR7" auction would cut the bill for UK gas imports by £5.5bn/y * A single (1) home heat pump would cut bill for gas imports by more than £600/y

@uk_decoded @ClaireCoutinho x.com/Cmmonwealth/st…

Updating the out of date Marginal pricing system that represents around 40% of households electricity bills would make a bigger impact on household and businesses bill's. Another thing, it was the Conservatives that put the UK down the road of electrification, wind farms and NetZero.

Pure nonsense from the Labour Energy Minister. Even the former head of Ofgem admits that the Carbon Tax is pushing up bills. That’s why our Cheap Power Plan would be axe the Carbon Tax and cut electricity bills for everyone. This is spot on from Steve. 👏🏾

@ClaireCoutinho drill baby drill isnt a plan.

Britain is once again on the brink of an energy crisis because of the role of gas in our electricity system. 🧵 Our new briefing explains why this is happening — and how we can reform the system to protect ordinary billpayers. common-wealth.org/publications/c…

@faisalislam x.com/Cmmonwealth/st…

@faisalislam there is a solution. Decoupling gas from electric and agreeing a price with each generator would protect us from future shocks. It would also encourage more people to electrify. common-wealth.org/publications/c…

“A wake up call” the CEO of Britain’s biggest domestic energy firm told me last night about the possibility of long term impact to global gas and oil infrastructure… but he pointed to electrification as the main lesson, while domestic gas would be preferable to shipped gas:

“wake-up call that gets us to electrify more of our economy and get more of our energy from homegrown sources.”


"The irony is, right now, we're emailing millions of customers saying their energy prices are going to fall..."
"You can't protect yourself against these global markets forever."
 "Traders are really worried about how long it's going to take these facilities to get back online."
"Our electricity system's too inefficient. We need to reform that markets so that people get the benefits of our homegrown resources."
“my own view is that shipping gas around the world is more inefficient and has more leaks of methane than if you use local gas. But we shouldn't kid ourselves. North Sea gas wouldn't meaningfully bring the price down because we're paying the global price. If we got more out of the North Sea, it would simply be sold to other countries at these very high prices or here at these high prices. And we can't kid ourselves we're going to be self-sufficient in gas again. What we can do is have a much cheaper approach to electricity than we have today. Our electricity system's too inefficient. We need to reform that markets so that people get the benefits of our homegrown resources.

@MartinSLewis there is a solution. common-wealth.org/publications/c…

Today's spike (on the spike) in the wholesale natural gas price has seen the final few providers that offer fixed rate energy tariffs below the price cap - removing them. There's now only one left that's materially cheaper than the Cap, and I'm not sure that'll still be around by the end of the day. Of course they may return if this is short lived, but it's not good.

@ClaireCoutinho Or we could actually fix the problem that is artificially driving up our energy prices and reform the energy market. Perfectly good and expedient solution proposed by @Cmmonwealth that could be put through parliament before next winter. common-wealth.org/publications/c…

Iran’s strike last night on the Ras Laffan facility in Qatar is a significant escalation. It risks a prolonged supply crunch on the global LNG market. Yet here at home, the Chancellor says all countries must play their part in boosting oil and gas production - while her own Energy Secretary bans new drilling in the North Sea. Ed Miliband’s position is untenable. Those desperate to shut down our own industry will say it takes too long to get our own wells up and running. They argue it won’t make a difference to the current crisis. This is bogus. By autumn, Jackdaw could be producing enough gas to heat 1.6 million homes. All of it will go into our pipes. The approval has been sat on Ed Miliband’s desk for months. If the conflict is not resolved, we will be in for difficult times. Turning our backs on the tax revenue and extra supply from the North Sea is inexcusable. However, so too is Ed Miliband’s other mistake. He has spent the last two years making electricity expensive, when he should have been making it cheaper. If you want people to use electricity to heat their homes or drive their cars, we need to address the biggest problem we have - our electricity is too expensive. Our Cheap Power plan could have been adopted by the Government by now to cut everyone’s electricity bills by 20%. Expensive electricity has stopped consumers from adopting technology which gives them options in energy price spikes. We also need to cherish our industrial power. The crippling Carbon Taxes - which have doubled because of Labour’s policies - mean we lost a third of our refineries last year alone. That makes us more reliant on imports at the worst moment. In the longer term, renewables tie us to gas as we always need flexible power that we can ramp up when the wind stops blowing. Yet Labour’s plan means that gas power gets four times more expensive. The Government must reinstate my plans for a third large-scale nuclear plant. That’s why our Energy Resilience Strategy is as follows: BACK THE NORTH SEA MAKE ELECTRICITY CHEAP STOP IMPOSING CRIPPLING CARBON TAXES ON INDUSTRY DOUBLE DOWN ON NUCLEAR

@jonburkeUK We need to do this. @Cmmonwealth have already suggested a solution that can be rolled out through emergency legislation using existing frameworks. We need @energygovuk to listen before the full impact of the energy crisis hits. common-wealth.org/publications/c…

What the Financial Times means to say is: ‘Renewable energy sets your country free from the warmongering of petro-state dictators, the fossil fuel industry, and their political puppets’.

@jonburkeUK there is a solution to all of this. decouple the cost of gas from artifically inflating the elec and speed up the transition common-wealth.org/publications/c…

Steve doesn’t think it matters that the CEO of Renewables U.K is a former senior Conservative Party and Shell employee helping to perpetuate Conservative Party and fossil fuel industry myths about North Sea oil and gas. I do, and you should too…👇

This seems an expedient & sensible solution from @Cmmonwealth to decouple the energy market. common-wealth.org/publications/c… Can @g__j & @MartinSLewis start lobbying @energygovuk to make it happen before the worst of the energy crisis hits the elec price in the summer #EnergyShock

@jonburkeUK Would it be fair to say that if the oil & gas companies thought it was viable they would be actively extending the existing fields? They have permission to do it with their existing licenses but don't seem to want to. It's almost as if they are happy with high priced?? 🤔🤔

Lots of North Sea propaganda out there today. Here’s the facts: 🛢️ *We* don’t have any reserves. They were privatised in the 80s, unlike Norway’s, which are publicly owned. 🛢️ North Sea production peaked in 1999. 🛢️ Production will fall by 95% by 2050, even with new licences.

@WorkTheSpace Siri, what's Japanese for bespoke?

The Japanese FM26 Trailer is a vibe. 2 hours remain.

@lollujo After two years the wait continues

Well there we go…

@WorkTheSpace Great to see you having a proper chat. Only met him once but I find miles refreshingly honest given his position

“If FM26 doesn’t go well… maybe we’re done.” ❌ My full sit-down interview with Miles Jacobson is out — and nothing was off limits. Full video on YouTube👇 #FM26 #FootballManager26

Did Epic Games just leak the #FM26 Beta date next week? If you have purchased FM26 and it's in your game library, it's showing 23/10/2025 as the data available. Next Thursday...

@O2 tried to use the priority code for tast card and it wasn't recognised