According to a report by The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), under current conditions, gas import dependence has the potential to grow by 60 per cent by 2035.
This is anticipated to have “major financial implications”, including a profound negative impact on the UK’s balance of trade and household finances.
Between 2024 and 2035, a household using typical amounts of gas would have paid £5,700 to overseas gas producers. However, a net zero home would have paid just a quarter of that cost, £1,400, the report said.
With wholesale gas prices potentially sitting at three times their pre-crisis levels for several years, current policies could leave the UK’s annual wholesale gas bill above £35bn most of the way to 2035, at least three times the pre-crisis level.
The vast majority of these costs would be paid to overseas gas producers, approaching £30bn a year from 2030 and accounting for 85 per cent of UK gas payments by 2035, taking this transfer...