Following the publication of an article entitled 'Dash for gas to take heat off fuel prices' in The Times on 12 October, Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, has issued a response in a letter to the newspaper.
The article claims that Ministers are planning to build a number of gas power stations with the aim of reducing energy bills and 'sidestepping' climate change targets in an attempt to 'stem soaring electricity prices.'

In his letter Mr Davey said: 'Neither I nor anyone in Government wants to avoid our legally binding targets to cut the UK's carbon emissions. The opposite is in fact the case - I am making the case in Government for a new, interim target to limit carbon emissions from the electricity sector by 2030 to give investors certainty about the Government's commitment to cleaning up the grid.'

'The power sector needs to be decarbonised, we have almost all of the technologies already, and it's an enabler for cleaning up transport and heating.'

He continued: 'Nor have I said I want a 'dash for gas' to reduce energy bills, particularly since an excessive reliance on gas would only serve to perpetuate the vulnerability of householders to volatile global gas prices.'

He said that while it is true that new gas plants are needed to replace older and dirtier coal plants, it is consistent with decarbonising the power sector by 2030.

'Gas can have a long term role with carbon capture and technology and increasingly be back up (if unabated) for intermittent renewables and nuclear in the 2030s and 2040s. At the same time, our market reforms will incentivise a diversification of the energy mix, increasing the share of energy produced at home and keeping us on track to meet our binding carbon targets,' Mr Davey concluded.