The Government should support the capital's efforts to generate more of its own heat and power to help reduce the UK's 'energy gap', a new report from the London Assembly has issued.

Plugging the Energy Gap by the Assembly's Environment Committee also calls on the Government to take elements of the Mayor’s RE:NEW programme as a model for its 'Green Deal' proposals to help improve energy efficiency nationally.

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The UK has an energy gap because it currently produces only 70 percent of the energy it uses. The capital uses 13 percent of the UK's electricity but only has two percent of national generating capacity.

The report says the Government should work with regions like London to keep financial and environmental costs down as it works to replace older and more polluting power stations and halve carbon emissions. This is anticipated to cost around £200 billion over the next decade, raising the prospect of higher energy bills in the future.

District heating schemes, which can efficiently heat thousands of homes, should also be eligible for existing subsidies and local generation projects being set up in the capital should be part of back-up plans for shortfalls in the electricity supply.

(CD)