Investment in the energy industry is urgently needed if an energy crisis is to be avoided. That’s the stark warning from the Engineering Employers’ Federation (EEF). The UK’s competitiveness and future security could be under threat if the government does not do anything.

The report, in The Independent, highlights how the UK faces a series of unprecedented energy challenges in the next ten years and the EEF urge the government to act now on issues such as tax and planning permission to encourage private companies to invest in the energy industry.

The EEF has launched an Energy Action Plan, a blueprint for attracting the billions of pounds of investment needed to meet government targets on renewable energy, and also to act as a safeguard for domestic and business energy customers.

The warning comes on the same day that The Independent reports that measures to tackle climate change could push up bills for domestic and business electricity customers alike.

Measures brought in last year added 21 per cent on to business electricity bills and last year’s renewable energy strategy could have added up to 70 per cent to business energy bills by 2020.

A review by economist Ruth Lea and Jeremy Nicholson from the Energy Intensive Users Group warned that the UK is badly placed to meet its renewable targets because it was starting from a very low base.

They urged action on business energy prices to prevent a migration of manufacturing companies to countries with cheaper business energy.

Read about the risk of energy crisis here.

And the warning about manufacturing here.