Energy bills are set to rise - but not just due to the Iran war

Energy bills are set to rise - but not just due to the Iran warJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleJoshua NevettPolitical reporterPA MediaSince the outbreak of war in Iran, the world has been gripped by another energy crisis and economic analysts expect the UK to be particularly badly affected.At Westminster, MPs have generally been making one of two arguments about ways to lower our energy costs, which can be summed up as:Let's "drill, baby, drill" for more oil and gas in the North Sea to increase our energy security and bring in more tax revenuesNo, let's sprint towards clean, renewable energy to reduce reliance on foreign fossil fuels and lower consumer bills in the long runBut there's a key cause of rising energy bills that this debate has barely touched on: network costs.Rewiring BritainOur energy bills don't just pay for the gas and electricity we use at home. They also cover the costs of maintaining, modernising and expanding Britain's energy system.Britain's use of renewables, such as wind and solar, has increased massively in recent decades and major upgrades to the national electricity grid are needed to carry the power generated from these sources.A lot of the electricity is coming from offshore wind in northern Scotland and many more cables are being installed to distribute this power across the country.This is not cheap.The great rewiring of Britain is expected to cost about £70bn over the next five years.Meanwhile, the lack of connections mean wind farms are sometimes paid to switch off their turbines to avoid overloading the grid.These network costs will filter through to household energy bills.Last year, UK energy regulator Ofgem said investments in the grid would contribute to a net increase of about £30 to the average consumer bill by 2031.That calculation doesn't include other elements of the bill that are expected to increase.A forecast by Ben James, an independent energy analyst, presents a ful...