The UK risks being trapped in a cycle of high electricity costs and weaker industrial demand unless it finds ways to expand power consumption, Energy Institute President Andy Brown told Energy Industries Council CEO Stuart Broadley on the EIC Clearly podcast.
Asked by Broadley why energy costs remain high in the UK and what practical steps could bring them down, Brown pointed to the decline in electricity demand. UK electricity demand rose 1.8% in 2025 but remains 27% lower than it was 20 years ago, even as global electricity demand has roughly doubled over the same period, Brown said.
The Energy Institute has just published the 75th edition of its Statistical Review of World Energy, which tracks global energy production, consumption and emissions.
‘We have this risk of a death spiral with high cost of electricity, an economy that has deindustrialised,’ Brown said. As industrial demand falls, the cost of expanding and upgrading the grid is spread across a smaller customer base, adding to pressure on prices.
Brown said cheaper electricity will depend in part on reversing that decline in demand. Greater consumption would allow the costs of the power system and new infrastructure to be spread across a larger base, creating economies of scale.
‘The way to get electricity cheap is to have more demand,’ he said.
That demand, Brown said, needs to come from industry as well as electric vehicles, heat pumps and data centres. He pointed to China, which he said generates six times more electricity for every $1tn of economic output than the UK.
The warning comes as the Statistical Review showed global energy demand rose 1.7% in 2025, with every major energy source reaching a record high. CO2-equivalent emissions also climbed to a record 41 gigatonnes.
Renewables supplied all of the increase in global electricity demand for the first time outside crisis periods, Brown said. Solar generation rose 30% and wind 8%, with China accounting for 55% of the increase in global electricity demand and expanding solar output by 40%.
Brown, a former Shell upstream director and vice chair of Ørsted, also argued that the UK should produce domestic gas that has already been developed rather than increase reliance on imported LNG.
He said policymakers need to lower electricity costs, expand demand and build the grid in step with generation if the UK is to improve industrial competitiveness.
EIC Clearly is the Energy Industries Council’s podcast featuring in-depth discussions with energy, policy and thought leaders on the issues, trends and developments shaping the global energy supply chain.
Listen to the full interview with Andy Brown OBE on the EIC Clearly page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music.