Fracking will 'do little' to bring down energy bills, advisers warn

David Cameron and George Osborne have both claimed in the past that shale gas exploration could help curb soaring bills.

But a long-awaited report by the Committee on Climate Change said unlike the US, where shale led to a substantial drop in price, “it is unlikely such an impact would follow from new UK production,” because the UK is part of a highly-connected European gas network, with prices set by international markets.

The committee said extracting shale gas through the controversial process on a significant scale is “not compatible with the UK’s climate change targets” unless three key tests are met.

Shale operations must tightly regulate and control emissions of methane - a potent greenhouse gas, while gas from fracking must only replace imports and not push up UK gas consumption.

Emissions from shale gas extraction must also be offset by deeper greenhouse gas cuts elsewhere in the economy to make sure the UK stays on track to deliver its legally binding goal of 80 per cent reductions on 1990 levels by 2050.

The report also suggested there were still weaknesses in the regulatory regime as it stands, warning: “The UK regulatory regime has the potential to be world-leading but this is not yet assured.”

Officials said they were confident that the Government would meet its carbon budgets, even with extra emissions from shale, and would set out how it planned to do so later in the year.

However anti-fracking campaigner Jon Mager said the further regulations proposed in the report would be difficult and costly for the industry to meet.

And he suggested that the Government has waited for a “good day to bury bad news” by publishing the report the day after Chilcot. He said they had been vindicated: “Our concern about regulation has been right. It also says what we have known all along, that it is misleading to promise that shale gas will have any impact on price.”