In response to the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) ‘Building an Industrial Strategy’ green paper, the region’s power network operator has urged that a flexible and hyper-local approach, energy efficiency innovation, policies and also investment is needed to keep the lights on. Electricity North West argues that this is critical for the future of the UK energy system for the benefit of North West energy customers.

The aim of the strategy is to address long-term challenges to the UK economy, improve living standards and economic growth by increasing productivity and driving growth across the whole country.

Steve Cox, engineering and technical director for Electricity North West, said: “We’re constantly looking at innovative ways to provide the power our region needs and we need the Government to acknowledge and help us drive forward those innovations.

“After listening to our customers, we believe that to overcome the significant challenges in the energy sector there must be more flexibility with new technologies allowing local generation and supply to support the growing number of community energy groups.

“We’re urging for greater scope in increasing network capacity and reducing the need for costly reinforcement. Doing this will lower customers’ bills and reduce the overall cost of the transition to a low carbon economy as people use more electricity for things like electric cars and electric heating.

“We support and champion the aspirations of our region and energy plays an essential role in supporting economic growth and will allow our region to grow and thrive in the future.”