Britain must take action to lower industrial energy costs or risk missing out on £250billion in economic value over the next decade, a report from PwC has warned.
The stark warning comes as Britain's reliance on important energy and the use of the marginal-pricing system have led to it having the highest electricity costs in the G7.
Energy bills in Britain are also inflated by a higher share of policy-associated costs including subsidies for renewables and grid improvement works.
A survey by Make UK yesterday revealed a quarter of British manufacturers have moved some operations overseas - or are considering doing so - due to energy costs.
Now, The Times reports, the PwC is calling on the government to lead a national energy plan, in conjunction with businesses and investors, that assesses the country’s needs and how they can be met.
The PwC reports argues some of the policy costs levied on bills should be reallocated to balance “long-term energy security objectives with the need for price competitiveness in the short term”.
Its report says a reduction in costs would chiefly benefit energy-intensive industries, but "frontier" technology firms and data centres were set to become bigger contributors.
PwC's Simon Oates said that could mean even more than £250billion of economic value could be unlocked by lowering energy costs.
Oates said the government needs to “reset the rulebook around regulation”, which often “comes through an affordability lens”.
“What we’re missing is that one of the challenges that is in place to affordability is that we have a highly volatile electricity price … and if you get the growth, you get real wage growth, which is an unlock to affordability,” he said.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “The lesson of yet another fossil fuel crisis is the UK needs to get off the fossil fuel rollercoaster and onto clean homegrown power we control to bring energy security and lower bills for good.
“We are taking action to tackle the challenges our industries face through our modern industrial strategy, including cutting electricity costs by up to 25 per cent for more than 10,000 manufacturing businesses through our British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme.”