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Cheaper electricity, fairer bills: what are the options for levy reform?

In A sustainable future

5 Jun 2025 18:00 – 20:45

etc.venues County Hall, Belvedere Rd, London, SE1 7PB

This event took place on Thursday 5 June. You can watch the recording below.

Event recording

The opinions expressed in this event recording are those of the speaker. For more information, view our full statement on external contributors.

The UK must take action on the current energy bill system to fix the unfair levy system and offer a clear route to cheap energy. By rebalancing levies, we can accelerate the decarbonisation of home heating, support fuel-poor households with electrical heating and assist all households in the transition away from gas with its volatile prices.

Nesta’s sustainable future mission analysed the tradeoffs between different approaches to rebalancing levies and shared policy recommendations on how to make changes fairly in a new report.

On Thursday 5 June, we shared our recommendations on levy reform from policy experts and industry leaders across sectors.

Making sure that clean energy is affordable and combating fuel poverty is central to Nesta’s sustainable future mission. We designed a robust, logical and palatable model to provide a route to consensus on how this Government can make the decarbonisation of the average UK household a reality as we wait for Parliament to approve the Seventh Carbon Budget.

The event’s chair, Ravi Gurumurthy, Group CEO at Nesta and BIT, was joined by Marcus Shepheard, policy manager for Nesta’s sustainable future mission, who shared Nesta’s recommendation on rebalancing levies, Gillian Cooper, Director of Energy at Citizens Advice, Emma Pinchbeck, CEO at Climate Change Committee, and Adam Berman, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Energy UK.

The event was then followed by a networking drinks reception. This in person event was for policymakers, energy sector experts and those who specialise in consumer advice.

Ravi Gurumurthy

He/him

Ravi Gurumurthy is Group Chief Executive Officer, joining Nesta as Chief Executive in December 2019. Ravi was previously responsible for the International Rescue Committee’s work in designing, testing and scaling products and services for people affected by crisis in over 40 countries - from reducing acute malnutrition and intimate partner violence, to expanding employment for Syrian refugees. Prior to joining the International Rescue Committee in 2013, Ravi held a number of roles in the UK Government, including Director of Strategy at the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change and as a strategic advisor to the Foreign Secretary. Across many departments, Ravi led a number of major social and environmental reforms including the development of the world’s first legally-binding carbon emissions targets and the integration of children’s services. Ravi has also worked as a researcher at the think-tank Demos and in local government in London. Ravi writes a fortnightly substack on policy innovation.

Marcus Shepheard

He/him

Marcus is the policy manager in Nesta's sustainable future mission. He is developing the breadth of our work on heat decarbonisation into evidence and advice to help inform Government policy. Marcus has a background in climate change governance and analysis. Marcus joined Nesta from the Climate Change Committee, where he was the lead analyst on residential decarbonisation. He has also worked for the Institute for Government and the Royal Society.

Gillian Cooper

She/her

Gillian Cooper is the Director of Energy at Citizens Advice. Since 2018, she has led the organisation's role as statutory energy advocate for consumers and small businesses, including expanding its remit to heat networks. She also directs the organisation's strategy for energy advice, ensuring its services are able to meet people's changing needs. Gillian was appointed interim Executive Director (2024-5): sitting on the Executive team of five; responsible for the national charity’s advocacy and income functions; and establishing the organisation’s newly-formed Partnerships and Advocacy directorate. Gillian has two decades of experience representing consumers in roles across various organisations.

Emma Pinchbeck

She/her

Emma is the Chief Executive of the Climate Change Committee, the UK’s national climate advisor. The body advises on the country’s Carbon Budgets and Climate Change Risk Assessments and does annual assessments of the Government’s progress. From 2020-2024 Emma was the Chief Executive of Energy UK. Emma is an expert in whole-economy decarbonisation and the energy transition and is a Fellow of the Energy Institute. From 2016-2020, she served as deputy CEO of the trade body Renewable UK, in which role she also sat on the Board of Scottish Renewables and worked with Renewable UK Cymru and Northern Ireland. Prior to this, Emma was Head of Climate Change and Energy at WWF-UK, in which role she worked on the international Paris Agreement, UK coal phase out, international aviation and shipping, and the design of UK renewables policy. Before joining the WWF, she worked in finance and in commercial consulting for start-ups in the energy sector. She has a degree from the University of Oxford. Outside of her main roles she has also undertaken several advisory or Board roles, including for the academic consortia the Energy Research Council, the Energy and Physics Research Council, UK100, and UK Research and Innovation’s “Women in Innovation” grant awards. Emma lives in Gloucestershire with her family, sharing childcare responsibilities for their two young children with her husband.

Adam Berman

He/him

Adam is Director of Policy and Advocacy at Energy UK, the industry body for the energy sector in the UK. He leads the organisation’s policy and advocacy work which focusses on speeding up the UK’s journey to Net Zero by enabling a low carbon energy future. From wind turbines to heat pumps, and hydrogen to EVs, Energy UK’s advocacy programme spans the breadth of low carbon technology. Adam has a background in climate and energy policy in both the UK and EU. Prior to Energy UK, Adam was Policy Director at IETA, an organisation which advocates for robust and effective carbon pricing around the world. Previous roles include working on international climate policy issues, and as a researcher in the UK Parliament. Adam is an expert in decarbonisation, and can regularly be found in the media or appearing before Parliamentary Committees. He has previously advised Governments through fora such as the UK Government’s Carbon Capture and Storage Council, the Climate Change Committee’s Electricity Design Expert Group, and the European Commission’s Expert Group on Climate Change.

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Finding ways to deliver cheaper electricity by rebalancing levies Net zero policy

Cheaper electricity, fairer bills: what are the options for levy reform?

About Nesta

Cheaper electricity, fairer bills: what are the options for levy reform?

This event took place on Thursday 5 June. You can watch the recording below.