How many jobs GB Energy aims to create, and why its chair can't say when bills will fall

GB Energy’s new Aberdeen headquarters hopes to create hundreds of jobs and may even reach more than 1,000, its new chairman has revealed.

Appearing before a Westminster Committee on Tuesday, Juergen Maier answered questions on the goals of the publicly-owned energy firm, and how it would operate.

Despite being a cornerstone of Labour’s election campaign, the party has been criticised over a lack of details, facing questions over what GB Energy will actually do, how much it will save consumers, and how many jobs it will create.

Mr Maier told MPs all key staff will be located in Aberdeen, including its chief executive, and also set out his vision for its other locations.

GB Energy is chaired by Juergen Maier, who ran Siemens here in the UK. PIC: Tony Johnson.

He said: “There will be other locations. We also would like a location in Edinburgh and in Glasgow, particularly to help on innovation, and maybe financial services.

“But where I see the main role in Aberdeen is particularly around operational engineering jobs and ultimately those are the jobs that are in abundance in Aberdeen, are the well paid jobs and are also the greater quantity of the jobs.”

Asked how many jobs will be brought to Aberdeen, Mr Maier admitted they can’t “put a direct number on it yet”.

However, he confirmed it will be “in the hundreds” and “may eventually be 1,000 or more”.

Keir Starmer on a visit to the St Fergus Gas Terminal in Aberdeenshire last November with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband

The former chief executive of Siemens UK added: “I very much see the role of Great British Energy as an enabler of getting such new technologies onto the grid and also as an investor and a co-investor and that’s going to take quite a team of people and skills to achieve that.”

His appearance also saw a clash with the SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, after Mr Maier was unable to say when the new energy body would lead to bills coming down.

He said: "The only way to get energy bills down is to get more renewable energy onto the grid.

“Every megawatt, every gigawatt of renewable energy that we put on the grid will help bring prices down. The exact mechanism by how that happens, is a matter of policy, how you decide to bring those bills to the consumer, and that is not the scope of Great British Energy".

Speaking after Mr Maier's evidence session, the SNP's Westminster Leader claimed his answers weren’t good enough.

He said: "The Labour Party made a cast iron pledge to cut bills, but their flagship policy has no commitment to doing so and their Chair was unable to say when GB Energy would see bills fall – the only thing that’s fallen is Labour’s principle campaign pledge and at the first hurdle.

“Sir Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar promised voters they would slash energy bills by £300, but instead they’ve robbed around 900,000 Scottish pensioners of their Winter Fuel Payment to the tune of £300 and left millions of households worse off.

“It remains far from clear what GB Energy will do, but the SNP will always put Scotland’s interests first and that includes ensuring that profits from our vast natural resources are used to benefit people who live here through lower bills and investment.”