UK households could get paid to use electricity – clean energy news from 13 April 2026

• North Sea oil and gas is not the answer to energy bills
• Households and businesses to be paid to use electricity
• Are Reform voters turning towards clean energy

Everyone’s arguing about the North Sea oil and gas and whether the UK should restart drilling to get energy bills down. Our view is very simple: NO. Unreservedly no. Why? Because even if we were to take all the oil and gas out of the North Sea, it would only give us enough electricity for a couple of years…and that’s being optimistic. 

Obviously we’re in the middle of an energy crisis (actually, it can probably be better described as an energy bill crisis if you believe the next price cap predictions), but more oil and gas is not the answer. 

Only renewables and improving the National Grid can keep our bills down and stop this from ever being hit so hard again. Don’t just take our word for it: the IMF has said the UK is set to be hit harder than any other major world economy by the US-Iran war due – unsurprisingly – to an over-reliance on imported fossil fuels. 

Thankfully, we seem to be heading in the right direction when it comes to freeing our bills from fossil fuels. The UK has generated so much renewable energy that we may well all get free electricity this summer. The predictable sceptics are trying to spin this as a negative, but the sensible among us are looking to cheap energy this year and for many more to come. All we can hope is that the government improves the National Grid enough to make it work. 

Why drilling in the North Sea would not bring down our energy bills

It feels like ever since the US and Iran started fighting at the end of February the anti-clean energy has been campaigning hard to restart drilling in the North Sea, as if it would make us energy independent. Aside from the fact that there’s barely any left, we give our take on why this is a terrible idea.

We’re going to get paid to use electricity

No, it’s not a marketing promotion for the World Cup, it’s because we’ve generated so much renewable energy. In short, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) will offer British households and businesses payments to use electricity at certain times of day to help the National Grid cope with the huge amounts of solar and wind energy we’ve generated.

Britain to be hit harder than any other country by the US-Iran war

It’s a good thing we have so much clean energy to fall back on because we’re being hit harder than any other major economy by the ongoing chaos in the Strait of Hormuz and the White House. That’s not us talking, that’s the IMF. The Resolution Foundation has gone as far to predict that the average household in this country will be £480 worse off because of the war. 

Potential Reform supporters back clean energy

Even those considering voting for the biggest clean energy sceptics of all can see the benefit in wind and solar. That’s if we believe the data coming out of Scotland, which says that 3-out-of-5 voters who are considering backing Reform UK support action on climate change. This is even more interesting when you remember the power of the North Sea drilling lobby north of the border. Will it tempt Nigel Farage into a policy change? Unlikely, but we can hope. 

Average price of clean technology

• Solar PV system: £7,581.02

• Solar storage battery: £9,370.52

• Air source heat pump: £13,669.45

• Ground source heat pump: £24,691.87

Number of the week

£480

That’s how much the Resolution Foundation thinks the average household is set to lose thanks to the US-Iran war and our dependence on fossil fuels.

Sources:

• https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/news/north-sea-drilling-energy-bills
• https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/poll-majority-of-scots-considering-voting-reform-back-climate-action
• https://www.ft.com/content/5121b052-3f17-48f6-830f-8e570de28ed0?syn-25a6b1a6=1
• https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/press-releases/higher-energy-prices-could-leave-typical-british-households-480-worse-off-this-year/
• https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/uk-to-be-hit-hardest-from-iran-war-says-imf-comment

Read previous issues of The Cut at theecoexperts.co.uk/the-cut

Written By

Maximilian Schwerdtfeger Deputy editor

Max joined The Eco Experts as content manager in February 2024 and became deputy editor in 2025. He has written about sustainability issues across numerous industries, including maritime, supply chain, finance, mining, and retail. He has also written extensively for consumer titles like City AM, The Morning Star, and The Daily Express.

He has represented The Eco Experts on national television several times, including the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live and ITV Tonight .

In 2020, he covered in detail the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) legislation on sulphur emissions and its effects on the global container shipping market as online editor of Port Technology International.

He also explored the initiatives major container ports and terminals have launched in order to ship vital goods across the world without polluting the environment.

Since then, he has reported heavily on the impact made by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices on the supply chain of minerals, with a particular focus on rare earth mining in Africa.

As part of this, in 2022 Max visited mines and ports in Angola to hone in on the challenges being faced by one of the world’s biggest producers of rare earth minerals.

His most recent sustainability-related work came much closer to home, as he investigated the eco-challenges faced by independent retailers in the UK, specifically looking at how they can cut emissions and continue to thrive.

Max lives in South London and is an avid reader of books on modern history. He has also recently learned to play the game Mahjong and takes every opportunity to do so. He is also yet to find a sport he doesn’t enjoy watching.

More about

Reviewed By

Will Georgiadis

Since 2018, Will has been the engine of the Expert Reviews production team as sub-editor, senior sub-editor, and now production editor. Will is responsible for making sure that the content Expert Reviews publishes is of the highest quality; he also keeps the team’s vast workflow running smoothly and maintains the ancient and revered Expert Reviews style guide. With five years of experience behind him and thousands of articles edited, sub-edited and triple-checked, Will is confident that you won’t find a single mistake on the site – and if you think you have, you’re wrong.

More about