Five things we know about Miatta Fahnbulleh: the new Energy Secretary

A new face is taking charge of one of the UK’s biggest policy briefs.

Following Andy Burnham’s Cabinet reshuffle, Miatta Fahnbulleh has been appointed Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, replacing Ed Miliband, who moves to the Foreign Office. It’s a promotion that won’t come as a huge surprise. Fahnbulleh previously served as Minister for Energy Consumers before stepping back following Labour’s difficult local election results in May, and had since been working on policy ideas for the new Burnham government.

So, who is she? What drives her? And, perhaps most importantly, what can businesses in the energy sector expect next? Our Head of Energy, Esther Griffin, has been finding out.

1. Fahnbulleh is not new to energy… she’s been living and breathing it

While Fahnbulleh is a relatively new MP, she’s anything but inexperienced.

Before entering Parliament in 2024 as MP for Peckham, she built a career spanning government, economics and public policy. She’s worked as a civil servant, advised government on economic policy, led the New Economics Foundation (NEF), and headed policy and research at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

She also knows the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero inside out, having already served as Minister for Energy Consumers.

That means she’s unlikely to spend months finding her feet. She already knows the brief, the stakeholders and the challenges.

2. She sees climate policy as economic policy

One thing becomes obvious when you look through Fahnbulleh’s career is that she doesn’t separate net zero from economic growth.

During her time leading the New Economics Foundation, she consistently argued that tackling climate change and creating prosperity go hand in hand.

Her view is that the clean energy transition should create better jobs, stronger local economies and lower household bills. This is likely to shape everything, from investment decisions to industrial strategy.

3. She believes communities should benefit from the energy transition

If there’s one phrase that comes up again and again in Fahnbulleh’s speeches, it’s giving power back to communities.

She has long supported greater local control, community wealth building and ensuring the benefits of clean energy are felt outside Westminster.

Fahnbulleh has described Britain’s clean power mission as something driven by working people and overlooked communities, saying:

“The clean power mission isn’t about arbitrary targets — it’s about working people transforming our economy. It’s about communities taking back control: the jobs, the lower bills, the energy independence.”

For businesses, that could mean more emphasis on regional investment, local partnerships and projects that deliver visible community benefits alongside decarbonisation.

4. Lower bills matter just as much as lower emissions

As Minister for Energy Consumers, Fahnbulleh’s focus was getting the energy market to work better for ordinary people.

That meant tackling fuel poverty, supporting and delivering the Warm Homes Plan, improving energy efficiency, reforming prepayment meters, reducing bills and restoring trust in the energy market.

She’s been a vocal supporter of home and public sector retrofit programmes and has repeatedly highlighted how retrofits can reduce bills while cutting emissions. Throughout her time in government, she has visited projects showcasing insulation, low-carbon heating and public sector energy efficiency upgrades.

For businesses supplying low carbon technologies and solutions, this is encouraging. We can expect consumer affordability to remain front and centre, both in the domestic and non-domestic space.

5. The direction of travel is already becoming clear

While we don’t yet know the full detail of the new government’s energy strategy, several priorities are already emerging.

Among the policies already being discussed or confirmed are:

• Taking public control of utilities (not confirmed)
• Reversing the ban on North Sea oil and gas drilling (not confirmed)
• Cutting VAT on electricity bills (confirmed)
• Plans to cut household energy bills by £130 a year and make running a heat pump cheaper than a gas boiler – by changing the way household gas is charged and removing some policy levies from bills (not confirmed)

A change in direction – or doubling down?

Miatta Fahnbulleh brings something slightly different to the role. She is an economist rather than an engineer, a policy specialist rather than a career politician, and someone who consistently frames energy policy through the lens of fairness, affordability and economic opportunity.

Businesses shouldn’t expect a dramatic change in the direction of travel on net zero. If anything, they should expect renewed momentum, but with a much stronger emphasis on delivering lower bills, warmer homes, regional growth and tangible benefits for communities.

For our clients in the energy efficiency, retrofit and renewables space, we’ll be watching closely.

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Image: Official portrait of Miatta Fahnbulleh (cropped). Licensed under CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/