Owen Paterson, Tory former environment secretary, has challenged David Cameron to shelve the Climate Change Act and adopt "common sense" energy policies.
Paterson said he was “very happy to see emissions come down,” but claimed current policies focusing on renewable energy to deliver the targets of the Climate Change Act “will not reduce emissions and they will not keep the lights on".
His four policies to “keep the lights on” are to push for shale gas, encourage combined heat and power plants, modular nuclear and "much more intelligent demand management".
"You could have quite cheap electronic gadgets on every one of our millions of fridges which knock off the fridges at a critical moment, just for 20 or 30 minutes," Paterson said.
"That would knock the peaks out and a mixture of all those things, that would be a sensible, common sense policy, but none of them are possible at the moment within the confines of the Climate Change Act because everything ... has got to be decarbonised."
Paterson called for the suspension of the Climate Change Act, which imposes binding targets on the government to reduce emissions, until it could be seen how the rest of the world including developing countries such as China were responding.
"It is unwise for us to be way out in front with this legally binding act imposing conditions on this country," he said.
The North Shropshire MP added there was "extraordinarily strong opposition" in rural areas to existing government policies and claimed he was acting as a "candid friend" in urging Cameron to follow a different path.
He said: "I was a loyal member of the shadow cabinet and the cabinet. But I did really pick up extraordinarily strong opposition from my own constituents, counties all around - if you go to Northamptonshire, if you go to Yorkshire, if you go to Northumberland, you go to the West Country and there is this extraordinarily strong opposition to what people see as subsidised and ineffective forms of renewable energy, and that's wind or it's solar."
Paterson said that following his plan would present a “glorious opportunity” for the Tories, deliver faster emissions reduction and would “keep the lights on” by using existing technology.
"I think those are true Conservative policies, they are common sense policies and I would be really pleased if my party took them up," he said.
Andrew Whalley, a member of the British Wind partnership and chief executive of British renewable energy generator REG, said: "Owen Paterson's remarks about the need to focus on affordability to meet our energy needs echo those of George Osborne earlier this year, when he said, 'Let's try and do this in as cheap as possible a way as we can. Let's not be too theological about which technology we use'.
"And in fact, onshore wind is one of the most affordable options. It is secure, abundant and supported by 70% of the British public, according to the government's most recent annual survey.
"If the facts continue to be ignored it will be consumers who are left to foot the bill and security of supply that will be put at risk.
Meanwhile, peers have demanded changes to planning laws to prevent more wind farms being built in Northumberland, claiming the county is bearing too big a burden of the country's renewable energy needs.
During a House of Lords debate, the Rt Rev Martin Wharton, Bishop of Newcastle, said that too many parts of Northumberland's landscape has been “scarred and disfigured”.
“Northumberland has more wind capacity installed than the 16 counties in the south of England put together,” he said. He called for “an end to further funds for on-shore wind, especially in Northumberland”. Wharton added: “The message from this debate is enough is enough.”