Four days ago I transcribed an interview on BBC Radio 4’s flagship evening news and current affairs programme, PM. The interview acknowledged that renewable energy can be problematic at this time of year, thanks to the effect of dunkelflautes. It was the sort of interview, and acknowledgement, that I have not witnessed on the BBC for many a long year. Imagine then my astonishment when I tuned in to PM again this evening to find (at just after 47 minutes in) another very revealing interview, implicitly recognising that Net Zero is leading to high electricity prices, business closures and job losses. The interviewer/presenter this evening was Anita Anand.
AA: Wholesale energy prices have fallen since the peak after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and you’d think that would provide some relief to companies hoping to see cheaper bills, but not the case. Businesses are saying their bills are going up because of extra charges that will be used to fund Sizewell C, and a separate hike in the price of network pylons that deliver electricity to businesses. Now these changes are set to kick in in April. Brent Milage (is it Millage or Mileage, Brent, are you there?)…
BM: It’s Millage…
AA: Thank you very much. I took a run at it, and got concussed. But Brent Millage is the Managing Director of Kepstone Limited, it’s a heat treatment company. And you’ve been already pinched by these new changes. Tell us what’s happening.
BM: It’s a very serious situation for us as a company, our industry as a whole. A little bit of background – the company’s existed for 110 years. I’ve been in the company 46 years, faced three recessions and covid, survived them all. And I have, I’m sad to say, the last eighteen months have been the worst in my 46 years. A combination of power costs and the general economy, and it’s devastating. Put it in a bit of context – my electricity bill for the company up until September 2025 was £60,000 a month; October till December raised to [£]76,000 a month; and as you correctly pointed out, with the additional charges coming on board, I’m looking at £85,000…
AA: Gosh…
BM: …a month. Which, in simple terms, is an additional £300,000 a year, and that is merely on electricity and takes no account of other budgetary items….
AA: ….The Obvious question, Brent, is are you gonna manage it, and how are you gonna manage it, what are you thinking of?
BM: I’m thinking all the time. Three things I have put into place already. I had a proposed £800,000 capital investment on the cards. I’ve cancelled that. We have, pre-Christmas, had to revert in part to four-day working. And I’m looking at potential job losses. And I have over 300 customers across engineering, and they’re all feeling the same. The two budgets have been crippling, and added to that is Miliband’s rush to net zero, which is just killing UK industry.
AA: Well, the government has said, look, you know, we’re trying to bring in three different schemes that will help offset costs for businesses. Have you looked into that, and do they apply to you?
BM: This is the next interesting point. At the moment certain opportunities are based on your SIC [Standard Industrial Classification] code, in other words, the code assigned to the type of industry. They are very erratic, they’re not evenly spread, and they’re still the ones implemented from the EU days, even though we’re no longer in the EU. I have approached government directly and just found a deaf ear, to be truthful.
AA: I mean, sort of, the way you said “Miliband”, I just need to ask, are you, are you against net zero per se or just the way it’s being implemented?
BM: It’s the way it’s being implemented. I’m a practical person, and in due time we do need to rely on renewable energy because fossil fuels will run out one day. But if I put it into context, China are looking at a thirty year plan to achieve net zero, and in the interim they’re building – I think I’m correct in saying – two coal-fired power stations every month currently to support their industry for the next thirty years till they achieve their target of net zero. It’s killing us, there’ll be nothing left….
AA [sounding a little desperate]: …Just, yeah, I mean, look, we’re, do you think it will kill you, I mean if I put it in such a stark way, you’ve been in your business – I’ve just looked it up – you’ve been running for what, 110 years? You’ve….
BM: …that’s correct…
AA: …been in it for 46 years. Is 2026, do you think, the end of your company?
BM: I sincerely hope not, I have 56 very good people all – we’re all trying very hard, we’re looking at every opportunity. But, to be honest, we cannot sustain any more budgetary…
AA: …OK…
BM: …imposition on us, let’s put it that way.
AA: Well, thank you for talking to us. That’s Brent Millage of Kepstone Limited.
It’s difficult to imagine such criticism of net zero being aired on the BBC even just a few months ago. Now, twice in one week, PM has aired criticism of the project. Perhaps – just perhaps – the times are changing.
Climate Scepticism 
Gulp – that is amazing. Thanks for sharing it with us Mark.
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The news is coming a bit late in the day.
The German experience should have been a warning. They initiated the Energiewende, to lead the way to a green future. This was reckless because after Fukushima they started to close down the nuclear plants that were providing 30 per cent of German power.
In 2011, under pressure from the Greens, the government ramped up their target for greenhouse gas reduction to 40% by 2020 and 95% by 2050.
So much for targets, the official report in 2018 revealed abject failure on the three sides of the “energy policy target triangle”– affordability, security and reduction of emissions. Things have got worse since then, but the green zealots in the parallel universe were not to be deterred and Germany is becoming an industrial wasteland as iconic industries shift China and the US.
This is the result of the failure to take account of wind droughts – Dunkelflautes.
Trillions of dollars spent worldwide on wind and solar have delivered more expensive and less reliable power with catastrophic damage to forests and farmlands.
That could have been averted if the net zero enthusiasts had taken account of the implications of wind droughts.
pion.substack.com/p/the-late-discovery-of-wind-droughts
https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/the-sinister-threat-of-wind-droughts
Why did nobody take any notice of the Dunkelflautes observed for 60 years on the North Sea oil and gas rigs? And Britain and Germany bet the farm on wind, especially offshore wind!
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/a-curious-tale-of-the-north-sea-winds/
PAUL BURGESS is the king of the wind drought hill!
https://substack.com/home/post/p-180089713 This is a killer video, and a chilling warning about impending disaster for Britain due to suicidal energy policies since the Theresa May government.
The wind industry must be the only enterprise that ever survived without caring about the reliability of the supply chain for the major input.
Dirt farmers are alert to the threat of rain droughts, but meteorologists never issued wind drought warnings and the wind farmers never checked the reliability of the wind supply.
https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/the-late-discovery-of-wind-droughts
https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/the-sinister-threat-of-wind-droughts
Why did nobody take any notice of the Dunkelflautes observed for 60 years on the North Sea oil and gas rigs? And Britain and Germany bet the farm on wind, especially offshore wind!
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/a-curious-tale-of-the-north-sea-winds/
PAUL BURGESS is the king of the wind drought hill!
https://substack.com/home/post/p-180089713 This is a killer video, and a chilling warning about impending disaster for Britain due to suicidal energy policies since the Theresa May government.
The wind industry must be the only enterprise that ever survived without caring about the reliability of the supply chain for the major input.
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Thank you for transcribing that Mark – although I actually heard it live, when cooking tea. I considered typing it out, but couldn’t muster the enthusiasm. Glad I didn’t spend my time on that.
Let us hope that this government makes yet another U-turn. (Government U-turns were featured towards the end of World at One today, with soundbites from Chamberlain, Macmillan and Thatcher.)
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Commiserations for listening to the BBC so we don’t have to. I think the penny dropping is that the establishment is beginning to realise that their asinine Net Zero project is doomed. They just don’t know how to frame it yet without admitting that they have been taken in hook, line and sinker.
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Questions that occur to me from this apparent shift at the BBC are what is behind it and how far does it go? I have only witnessed it on the PM programme. Is it a rogue editor flying a kite? Will it extend across the whole of Radio 4, or even the whole of BBC radio? Will it reach BBC TV? The website?
As for why this is happening, I cannot believe that anyone at the BBC has just had a road to Damascus moment. My suspicion (and it can only be that) is that the BBC is seeking to save something from the wreckage of the UK government’s wretched energy/net zero policy. More specifically, I think they fear Farage and the prospect of a Reform UK government. Having identified high energy prices, business closures and job losses as giving Farage a real advantage, perhaps they are seeking, gently at first, to persuade the establishment that harmful net zero policies must be relaxed, so as to undercut a positive campaigning issue for Reform.
A far-fetched possibility is that the BBC is finally responding to criticism about its bias, and is seeking to allow alternative points of view to be aired. Now that really would represent tectonic plates shifting!
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But did you not detect a moment there when the interviewer tried for a “gotcha” moment when quizzing him about Miliband. I suspect she more than half hoped he would say something outlandish like he didn’t think climate was changing and the whole exercise was for nothing. The interviewee segued into that tired old trope about fossil fuel running out one day.
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Yes, Max, I noticed that, but wasn’t sure what the intention was there. Perhaps the BBC have worked out that Miliband is a liability?
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As Rafe says above “The German experience should have been a warning. They initiated the Energiewende, to lead the way to a green future” was trumpeted in the UK as the path to follow for many years by media & politicians. Now the calamitous effects of this on Germany are taking hold, nobody seems to be interested in reporting that. I call that “denial”.
1 link – Berlin Blackout Shows Germany’s $5 Trillion Green Scheme Is “Left-Green Ideological Pipe Dream”
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Has the BBC at last decided to take a look beyond the Guardian?
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