Ed Miliband’s energy quango is currently looking for a new chairman and is offering an “obscene” £458,000 over four years, a move described as “scandalous” by critics.
The successful applicant, who would serve as chairman of Great British Energy (GBE), which is sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, would earn £1,100 per day for working just two days per week. The total remuneration would amount to £114,400 per year, almost three times the amount the average worker in the UK earns, which is £39,000.
Responding to the job advert, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Claire Coutinho said: “Ed Miliband said Great British Energy was supposed to lead to a ‘mind-blowing’ reduction in energy bills. Yet it hasn’t taken a penny off bills and all it’s done is put solar panels made with Chinese slave labour on British primary schools.
“Spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money on another chairman is a scandalous waste of money.”
Ms Coutinho added: “The Conservatives would scrap Great British Energy and use the savings to take taxes and levies off everyone’s energy bills instead.”
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice also criticised the government for “destroying skilled jobs and businesses”, voicing concerns that Great British Energy is nothing more than a “golden gravy train”.
He told the People’s Channel: “GB Energy is a golden gravy train for the few. Its mission is to destroy skilled jobs and businesses, mainly in the oil and gas sector, which help lower bills and create growth.
“It is the worst of quangos, and Reform will scrap it.”
Ed Miliband’s latest job offering has caused uproar | GETTY
Great British Energy (GBE), sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, was formed in 2025 and promised to supply cleaner and more secure energy for Great Britain.
The quango has made ambitious promises to support the rebuilding of Britain’s industrial capacity, providing highly skilled, well-paid jobs that support the economy.
In response, William Yarwood, campaigns director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This is an obscene pay packet for a quangocrat that taxpayers will be forced to pick up the tab for.
“Ministers promised Great British Energy would bring down household bills, but so far it seems more effective at generating bumper pay packets for the quangocrat class.”
Mr Yarwood added: “Ministers must scrap this gravy train and consign this quango to the dustbin of history, where it belongs.”
The energy price cap for the third quarter (July to September) has now been set by energy regulator Ofgem at £1,862 for the average consumer, an amount the new Great British Energy chairman could earn in less than two days on the job.
Cornwall Insight advises that the energy price cap is reviewed every three months, taking into account both wholesale and non-wholesale energy costs.
GB News has approached Great British Energy for comment.
