UK energy minister claims allowing wind farms to hike prices will reduce bills

Written by Andrew Montford on November 21, 2023. Posted in Current News

Campaign group Net Zero Watch has ridiculed UK Energy Minister Claire Coutinho’s claim that handing a price increase of 66 percent to wind farm operators is part of her plan for ‘bringing bills down for families.’

Net Zero Watch Director Andrew Montford said:

“Poor Claire Coutinho has only been on the job for a few weeks, and her civil servants have already made her look foolish.

The idea that you can double prices paid to generators and at the same time reduce electricity bills is simply preposterous.“

Net Zero Watch’s statement comes after the energy minister announced an astonishing round of price increases, with offshore wind offered at 66%, floating offshore wind at 52 percent, geothermal at 32 percent, solar at 32 percent, and tidal at 29 percent.

The prices for some of these technologies are now up to six times higher than long-term market averages.

Since Contracts for Difference are index-linked, claims that these increases address recent inflationary effects are simply implausible.

As work by numerous researchers has shown, the renewables industry in general, and the offshore wind industry, in particular, has been less than candid about its true capital and operating costs, and the earlier low bids in the CfD auctions were a market positioning and PR gesture that did not reflect the true cost of generation.

We have long predicted that the wind industry would be back with its begging bowl. It is disappointing in the extreme that the government has betrayed consumers by giving in to this blackmail.

Worse still, the 66 percent increase is a minimum: the government is offering wind farm operators ‘more money’ ‘if they reduce carbon emissions in their supply chains and demonstrate positive social impact on communities’.

How much money is not specified, leaving the cost to consumers and taxpayers open-ended.

And Mr. Montford has slammed Whitehall officials for misleading the public over renewables costs and has warned that consumers should expect hefty price increases.

“Just a few months ago, Whitehall was telling us that offshore wind was extraordinarily cheap.

That was a lie, and we are now seeing the truth emerging, with the Government’s complete surrender to green lobbyists.

Consumers and businesses should expect yet more increases in their electricity bills. When will this end?”

In light of today’s cave-in, Net Zero Watch is calling for DESNZ to withdraw its Generation Costs report, which continues to insist that offshore wind is cheap – less than half the figure offered to developers today.

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