Ed is right, it might not be fashionable but Labour must stay the course on sustainable energy

In the wake of plummeting oil prices and under mounting pressure from policy makers and regulators, one of the UK’s energy giants, E.ON UK, finally announced this week that it will pass on a 3.5% gas price cut to its UK customers (£24 on average per household). With other energy companies expected to follow and over 4 million UK households unable to afford to pay their energy bills, this is a welcome development. But Labour must be wary that we do not make the same mistakes as this Coalition Government and abandon our efforts to put in place a long-term and sustainable solution to imported oil and gas through local and renewable energy sources (e.g. Biogas and wind energy) and energy efficiency measures (e.g. insulation).

2014 was a break through year globally for the sustainable energy sector, with an average 16% increase in investment around the world. In China investment was up by 30% and in Brazil it rose by a staggering 88%. This trend means that around the world sustainable energy is increasingly cost-competitive, with solar in particular now all but the same price as gas or coal powered electricity.

But whilst policy makers elsewhere in the world are investing in renewables and energy efficiency as a way to protect their economies and energy users against increasingly volatile oil and gas markets, investment in the UK remains low at 3%. Politically motivated planning restrictions for renewables, u-turns on government subsidies and the failure of three of the Government’s so-called flagship energy efficiency schemes – the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation and Smart Meter roll out – mean that after five years of Coalition policy the UK remains dangerously over reliant on volatile global oil markets.

In fact with the exception of off-shore wind projects, investment in renewables and energy efficiency has declined sharply in the UK since 2011. Plummeting oil prices in 2014 should have brought the UK’s domestic gas prices down but instead they have continued to rise.

The Coalition Government’s record on sustainable energy has been extremely poor to date. Without strong political leadership there is a real danger that cuts to government funding after the May election could further jeopardise investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency schemes and leave UK households even worse off in the global competition to end our unsustainable dependency on oil.

The Labour energy team must be applauded for their efforts in ensuring that lower oil prices are reflected in our household energy bills . For the sake of hard-pressed households in the UK and a sustainable future for us all it is crucial that the fuel poverty and climate change lobbies get behind Ed Miliband’s leadership and ensure that Labour gets into Government, in May.