PolicyLens

Methodology note

Capitalise Great British Energy: note

Models capitalise great british energy in 2028-29. The estimate is illustrative and excludes wider package interactions.

View main policy page: Capitalise Great British Energy

Central fiscal result

+£1.7bn - Net fiscal impact in 2028-29

Low case: +£0.8bn. High case: +£4.0bn. Positive numbers are fiscal costs or borrowing pressure. Negative numbers are Exchequer savings or receipts.

Scenario and baseline

  • Models capitalise great british energy by 2028-29.
  • Baseline is current policy or published departmental plans.
  • Central case uses published party or official anchors where available.
  • Wider manifesto interactions are excluded unless stated.

Affected population

  • Affected units are people, firms, households or providers depending on policy.
  • Direct exposure follows the manifesto or government target group.
  • Indirect exposure includes suppliers, workers, consumers and taxpayers.
  • Weakest counts are widened in the low and high cases.

Gross impact

  • Published anchor or scenario central is +£1.7bn in 2028-29.
  • Gross costs or receipts are adjusted for behaviour and delivery risk.
  • Tax, benefit or procurement offsets are separated in the fiscal build-up.
  • The range is deliberately wider where implementation detail is thin.

Fiscal build-up, central case

  • Gross programme or delivery cost: +£2.0bn
  • Tax and receipt offsets: -£0.1bn
  • Administration and evaluation: +£0.1bn
  • Behavioural and pass-through effects: -£0.3bn

Central net impact: +£1.7bn in 2028-29.

Behaviour and pass-through

  • Low case assumes stronger delivery or receipts than central.
  • Central case applies moderate behavioural leakage and pass-through.
  • High case allows weaker delivery, larger take-up or higher costs.
  • Output effects follow incidence, capacity and investment channels.
  • Distributional gains do not automatically imply GDP gains.

Phasing

  • 2026-27: +£0.2bn. Phased implementation and take-up.
  • 2027-28: +£0.9bn. Phased implementation and take-up.
  • 2028-29: +£1.7bn. Phased implementation and take-up.
  • 2029-30: +£1.7bn. Phased implementation and take-up.

Main source groups

  • Acemoglu, Aghion, Bursztyn and Hemous, "The Environment and Directed Technical Change" (American Economic Review, 2012): Climate policy can redirect innovation, but transition dynamics and path dependence matter; relevant to green investment and clean-power policy.
  • Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, "Great British Energy founding statement" (2024): The statement explains the public energy company, co-investment role and capitalisation; defines the delivery model and fiscal channel.
  • Metcalf and Stock, "The Macroeconomic Impact of Europe’s Carbon Taxes" (NBER, 2020): European carbon taxes show limited adverse macro effects in studied cases, partly depending on recycling; relevant to output and inflation risk.
  • Office for Budget Responsibility, "Economic effects of public investment" (2024): OBR analysis links public investment to potential output with long lags and uncertainty; relevant to capital programmes.
  • Labour Party, "Change: Labour Party Manifesto 2024" (2024): The manifesto sets the policy pledge, funding claim or target being modelled; used as the policy definition and manifesto baseline.