Net Zero Transition: Consumer-led Flexibility debate, Westminster Hall

That this House has considered consumer-led flexibility for a just transition.

09/12/2025 - 09.38am

Mrs Sharon Hodgson
(Washington and Gateshead South) (Lab)

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for Thornbury and Yate (Claire Young) for securing this debate.

As we know, the Government have declared a clean power 2030 mission, which aims to achieve a target of 12 GW in consumer-led flexibility. Earlier this year, the Government also published their landmark “Clean Flexibility Roadmap”, which I fully support and which formally recognises consumer-led flexibility as essential for energy security and will lower bills for more than 4,000 households in fuel poverty in my constituency. I have campaigned extensively, over my whole parliamentary career, on fuel poverty. I cannot beat the Minister, who comes from Scotland, but the north-east tends to be one of the colder parts of the UK, so that issue is very important. Consumer-led flexibility is essential for a just transition. Unlocking just 10 GW of consumer-led flexibility by 2030 is equal to a third of the UK’s entire gas power station capacity.

I will start by highlighting some of the impressive developments taking place in my constituency of Washington and Gateshead South. Nissan is leading the way by developing electric vehicles, while AESC is currently building a second battery plant in my constituency, supported by a Government-backed £1 billion funding plan, which will be the UK’s largest gigafactory. Those are proud additions to the north-east’s already impressive manufacturing history. EVs are an example of the smart technology we need to shift energy use intelligently to times when it is cheap, clean and abundant, as the hon. Member for Thornbury and Yate mentioned.

Nissan has also boldly embraced wind power to supplement its power supply. Across the UK, however, we are not using that energy efficiently. Octopus Energy has found that we are currently wasting more than £1.2 billion a year paying wind farms to turn off and gas plants to turn on. More broadly in the north-east, we are pioneering solar energy through companies such as Power Roll, while former coalfield communities such as mine are exploring mine-water heating as a potential heat and energy source of the future, rooted in our past.

The award-winning Gateshead district energy scheme in the town centre supplies 24 buildings with heat and/or power, as well as more than 600 homes. That includes 4 MW of power capacity, forming part of the UK’s capacity market, and 5 MW of solar PV farms on urban brownfield sites. It also operates the UK’s largest mine-water heat pump, extracting renewable heat from flooded mines beneath Gateshead. Furthermore, Labour plans to ensure that clean energy jobs are always good jobs, by ensuring that companies receiving public grants and contracts must create jobs with decent pay, access to trade unions and strong rights at work.

The clean energy economy is currently growing three times faster than the wider economy. Labour’s analysis shows that employment in clean energy jobs is expected to double to 860,000 by 2030. Our energy transition must not just be driven by the technologies we know; the Government must also keep an eye on emerging technology. I am impressed by the widespread uptake of heat pumps and happy to see that heat batteries are one the latest technologies added to the boiler upgrade scheme.

Intervention

Alex Sobel
(Leeds Central and Headingley) (Lab/Co-op)

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech, talking about different types of emerging technology. We have had solar panels on domestic roofs for more than 30 years, yet our electricity grid is not ready for new types of technology. Does she agree we should have started flexibility earlier, with the emergence of the solar revolution? Consumer flexibility will create those jobs and give people a stake in the electricity market.

Mrs Hodgson
My hon. Friend makes a good point. Sadly, we could only start once we came into government. We can see that more should have been done over the past 14 years. At least we are now in government and heading in the right direction.

As a leading alternative for homes where heat pumps are not yet viable, heat batteries support consumer flexibility by storing energy at cheaper, off-peak hours and releasing it on demand. Consumers should also be rewarded when renewables are plentiful, which is an increasing proportion of the time. Perhaps the Government should investigate the final consumption levies and network costs to allow consumers to be paid for using power. That would be a tangible benefit of the green transition that they could feel in their pockets, which is very important to our constituents.

I warmly welcome the Government’s appointment of the UK’s first flexibility commissioner, following campaigning by organisations such as the Association for Decentralised Energy with its ADE: Demand initiative. The commissioner’s role will be to champion this agenda across government, Ofgem and NESO, providing the accountability and leadership that have been missing. There is more work to be done, but I welcome the positive steps the Government are taking and their recognition that consumer-led flexibility is essential for both energy security and a just transition.

09.45am

04/12/2025 - 2.59pm

Mrs Sharon Hodgson
(Washington and Gateshead South) (Lab)

I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex (Sir Bernard Jenkin) for securing today’s very important debate, and to my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel) for his leadership of the important all-party group to which he devotes so much of his time. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the bravery of the Ukrainian people in the face of an unprovoked, premeditated and barbaric attack by Russia against a sovereign democratic state. Putin’s invasion—which will be four years ago come February—has resulted in millions fleeing their homes, hundreds of thousands of casualties, and relentless attacks on hospitals, homes and schools.

Like many Members who will speak today, I am particularly concerned for Ukraine’s children, many of whom have been subjected to state-sanctioned abductions to the Russian Federation. I welcome the Government’s new sanctions that target those supporting Vladimir Putin’s cruel attempts to forcibly deport and indoctrinate Ukraine’s children and erase their Ukrainian cultural heritage. However, this issue was not mentioned in President Trump’s 28-point plan for peace between Russia and Ukraine. I am therefore proud to add my name to an open letter to the Minister calling for the rights of children to be upheld in any peace agreement. That letter was released today, and was organised by my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter); she really wanted to be able to contribute to today’s debate, but as has been mentioned, she has unfortunately been called away on other business. I also pay tribute to the decision of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly to join the international coalition for the return of Ukrainian children, and to the appointment of Swedish MP Carina Ödebrink as special envoy on Russian abductions and deportations of Ukrainian children. I look forward to supporting her in her new role.

In my role as leader of the UK OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation, and as the recently appointed chair of its parliamentary support team for Ukraine, I have listened to evidence from brave Ukrainians who have defied all the odds. At our Crimea platform summit in Stockholm just last week, the OSCE PA reiterated our unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. President Pere Joan Pons reminded us of the wider implications of Ukraine’s struggles, saying:

“When we stand with Ukraine, we defend something bigger than any one nation—we defend the idea of Europe itself: its liberty, its dignity, and the right of every nation to choose its future”.

President Pons and I appointed fellow PSTU member Boris Dittrich as a special rapporteur with a dedicated mandate to push for the release of the three OSCE officials who are unlawfully being held in Russian detention: Dmytro Shabanov, Maksym Petrov and Vadym Golda. At the OSCE’s autumn session in Istanbul, President Pons and I met with Marharyta Shabanova, wife of Dmytro, to discuss our efforts. I hope the UK Government will also look into how they can support those officials’ release.

I am proud that this Labour Government have stepped up for Ukraine. The UK must uphold its promise to deliver £3 billion of military aid to Ukraine every year Toggle showing location ofColumn 1244for as long as needed. I take the point made by the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex that “as long as needed” should not be forever, but as soon as possible. The UK’s military, financial, diplomatic and political support for Ukraine must remain iron-clad. I am pleased that in recent weeks, alongside our allies, we have reasserted our steadfast commitment to Ukraine and a European security architecture based on the principles of the UN charter and the OSCE, despite blatant abuses by Russia.

Looking around the Chamber today, I am also heartened by the cross-party support for Ukraine. The UK has provided £457 million in humanitarian assistance since the start of the full-scale invasion, including £100 million of humanitarian support; £20 million to double this year’s support to Ukrainian energy infrastructure; and £40 million for stabilisation and early recovery, which the Foreign Secretary announced in Kyiv in September. That funding is vital, and I know it has been warmly welcomed. We must continue to stand with Ukraine, confront Russian aggression, and hold Putin to account for his war crimes. While other countries may choose to look away, our country’s response must be one of strength, resilience and unity for as long as it takes.

3.04pm

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