Britain’s Net Zero Police State

Democratic totalitarianism marches on under a so-called 'Conservative' Government. There are damned few conservatives in the Conservative Party!

From The European Conservative

By Laurie Wastell

The new green-energy law is less a power grab by the Conservative government than a power handover to unelected technocrats.

Judging by the outpouring of hysterics after UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s modest retrenchment of Britain’s green agenda this week, any attempt to steer the UK away from the Net Zero cliff-edge will prove quite the battle. That’s because large parts of Britain’s technocratic establishment, as well as much of the ruling Conservative Party, remain thoroughly wedded to the green agenda. A draconian new green-energy law passed earlier this month is a case in point: it could allow government authorities to enter people’s homes to ensure their household appliances don’t use too much electricity. 

Britain’s green-leaning political class is usually keen to talk up the benefits of Net Zero. Advocates tout a green jobs boom, which will supposedly generate hundreds of thousands of jobs in renewable energy over the next decade and a future of “secure, low-cost, and clean electricity,” as a government white paper on energy security put it in March.

The reality, though, is rather more bleak. Reaching a Net Zero world, according to the UN, “calls for nothing less than a complete transformation of how we produce, consume, and move about”—and not in a good way. A recent glimpse into this dark future was given by C40 Cities, a global group of metro mayors claiming to offer “climate leadership.” The “Future of Urban Consumption,” suggests a recent report of that title, will mean just three new clothing items per person per year, no eating meat or dairy, no private vehicles, and just one short-haul flight per person per three years, all in order to meet climate targets. Similarly, the UK’s Climate Change Committee, the technocratic body which cheerleads the government’s ‘green transition,’ expects 62% of Britain’s Net Zero emissions reductions to come, not from new green technologies, but from “behaviour change and individual choices.”

Once you cut through the spin, it is clear that Net Zero is an assault on people’s standard of living, something the British government knows that few Britons will be prepared to accept.

So it is perhaps not surprising—though it is certainly chilling—that a new energy-regulation law, set to be passed by the UK parliament, will allow a future green-zealot government to impose these dictates by force. The mammoth bill includes all manner of things, from provisions on licensing, to carbon capture and storage to establishing an Independent System Operator and Planner (ISOP), a non-governmental body responsible for regulating the energy companies and the energy supply.

The section on “Energy Smart Appliances,” household appliances like fridges, dishwashers, tumble-dryers, heaters, and air conditioners, is worrying indeed. The idea behind “smart” appliances and smart metres is that they allow households to reduce their energy bill by using energy when the grid is less busy. In order for that to happen, however, they have to be able to receive signals from the energy grid. These “load control signals” are a digital message sent to an appliance, typically by the energy supplier, in order to adjust an appliance’s energy usage.

The UK government seems extremely keen to have these smart appliances installed in households. For instance, the bill allows the government to ban the sale of non-energy smart appliances, and to require that householders make their existing appliances “compliant with energy smart regulations.” 

To ensure this happens, the government can designate “enforcement authorities”—essentially, Net Zero police. These government enforcers will have powers to enter people’s homes, “including by reasonable force.” While there, they will have powers of “inspection, search, and seizure” and powers to “require the production of information” from residents, presumably to find out how much energy a household is using. They can even stop people from modifying appliances and recall those that are non compliant. Citizens who do not obey these rules are liable to receive a civil penalty of up to £15,000, and perhaps more should the government deem it necessary to recover further costs.

The extraordinary measures in this bill suggest that this is about rather more than simply helping consumers save on their energy costs. Especially given that the Independent System Operator and Planner has sweeping powers under the bill to manage the electricity supply—and its primary duty is to promote Net Zero in accordance with the government’s climate targets.

It is important to note that this law does not itself create new criminal offences—yet. Rather, it gives a future secretary of state the power to make new energy ‘regulations’ and to make them enforceable. In a way, this is worse than if the government had directly criminalised failure to have a smart metre installed, or using too much energy. After all, a single hated law can be repealed. It is clear which politicians put it there, and a future parliament with different views might vote to repeal it.

Instead, this expansive new energy bill is the ultimate expression of how the managerial, regulatory state strangles democracy. Today, far from simply making laws, “legislatures chiefly govern by authorising administrative agencies, regulative bodies, quangos, licensing authorities, and so on to issue decrees and edicts as they see fit or to advise government ministers to do likewise,” as legal scholar David McGrogan argues. And given the sheer size of the bill—its title alone is 130 words, while the text is a full 446 pages—how could such a leviathan of legislation ever be properly scrutinised? Few of the 277 Conservative MPs to vote for it will have the expertise, the time, or the inclination to read through all of it. (Britain’s opposition Labour Party simply abstained.) This is less a power grab by the Conservative government than a power handover to unelected technocrats. In this way, elected politicians evade accountability for what is done in the government’s name.

All of this means that, on a cold, windless winter’s evening someday soon, the Net Zero Police may come knocking. “We’re here to inspect your house’s energy-smart compliance,” an officer might bark. Sensing danger, John, the homeowner, might shut the door—after all, he needs his heater for little Danny, who’s been unwell, and the heat-pump central heating isn’t working. Grimly, the officers might then decide to break down the door. They might search the house and confiscate the offending heater, terrifying little Danny as his dad watches helplessly. Before the door is even mended, a letter will arrive in John’s cold hall informing him that he’s received a £15,000 fine for his trouble.

Perhaps this sorry episode will be filmed. It may even make the news.

But when the government of the day is pressed over why the Net Zero Police are breaking into people’s homes, a dead-eyed spokeswoman will simply respond with a prepared statement: “Energy Smart Regulation enforcement decisions are taken by the independent Net Zero regulator in order to meet our statutory climate targets.” Then she’ll add: “There’s nothing we can do about it.”

An Englishman’s home is his castle? In the Net Zero police state, not so much.