SME4Labour at Labour Party Conference

Monday 28 September 2026 · ACC Liverpool

McCluskey: clean power will give small businesses control over energy prices

The Energy Minister told a packed SME4Labour and E.ON breakfast that the 2030 clean power goal is as important for small firms as for households, as E.ON warned bills can stay high even when wholesale prices fall.

The shift to clean power is as important for small businesses as it is for households, Energy Minister Martin McCluskey has told a full-house fringe at Labour's conference in Liverpool.

Speaking at Energising Enterprise: E.ON Business Energy Breakfast, held by SME4Labour and E.ON on Monday 28 September, McCluskey said the government's 2030 clean power goal was about security as much as cost.

"Ultimately, this is about giving us control over the source of energy and price, and that's as important for SMEs as it is for households," he said.

The breakfast was chaired by Leigh Ingham MP, Labour MP for Stafford. The panel also heard from:

• McCluskey, Minister for Local Energy and Jobs and MP for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West
• Anthony Ainsworth, Chief Operating Officer for Industrial & Commercial at E.ON UK
• Dave Robertson MP, Labour MP for Lichfield
• Luke Murphy MP, Labour MP for Basingstoke

McCluskey said Britain remains uniquely exposed to volatile fossil fuel markets, with gas still making up the largest part of most bills. Each new solar panel and turbine, he argued, means gas sets the price less often.

Why bills stay high

Ainsworth told the room that business energy costs come down to three things: the energy itself, network costs and policy costs. Wholesale prices could fall sharply, he said, and bills could still rise if network and policy costs keep climbing. He suggested spreading the cost of the transition over a much longer period and moving some policy costs off electricity bills. Businesses back decarbonisation, he said, but "not at any cost".

Support for small firms

McCluskey said help already exists but is under-used, with too few small firms applying for heat pumps through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. He said he had championed a "high street test" for energy support when he held the energy consumers brief. A gap remains, he said, between large industrial schemes and household support. Hairdressers and gift shops, he noted, use about as much energy as a home. Decisions on future support, he said, will come in the Budget.

From the floor

A small business owner asked how tenants can install solar when landlords pass on energy costs. McCluskey pointed to minimum energy efficiency standards for commercial buildings, describing them as a mix of "carrot and stick".

A manufacturer said its sector still pays significantly more for wholesale power than competitors in France and Germany. McCluskey said the gap reflects decades of underinvestment, pointing to France's continued nuclear build-out. Britain, he said, "built and stopped, and now we've restarted".

Asked why so little steel in UK wind turbines is British, he said government should look more closely at local content rules. On Ofgem's role in network investment, he said the Ofgem review would give the regulator a more strategic focus and give government more ability to steer it.

McCluskey said he wanted the challenge from the room, and that the transition would only work with pressure from businesses. The test now is whether the Budget closes the gap between industrial and household support for the small firms in between.