Some of the biggest companies in the United Kingdom could be coming to America. The firms may be forced to move to the United States or Eastern Europe due to the fact that energy costs are so much lower there than in the United Kingdom, according to the Energy Intensive Users Group.
The director of the powerful lobby group, which campaigns for companies in the chemical, glass and steel industries, Jeremy Nicholson, says that companies in the United Kingdom are unable to compete against groups in the United States because the energy costs in the US are four times cheaper than in the UK. They may therefore have to move.
Nicholson says that the United Kingdom needs to come up with its own shale gas industry, which would provide a decisive transformation to the economics of the energy industry. The United Kingdom should also pay compensation to companies that face enormous bills in order to meet climate change targets, he argues.
“The solution for intensive industry depends on maximizing the opportunity for responsible production of shale gas in the UK, as well as completing the electricity market reform process so the UK can deliver low carbon nuclear energy and renewables at least cost to consumers,” Nicholson states.
The largest firms in Germany have likewise been warning that they cannot compete with the United States due to not having the same access to cheap shale gas, which is something they believe will provide the US with a price advantage for the next seven years at least.
Lance Grooms
