UK energy customers, who pay billions each year for domestic fuel, are unknowingly about to stump up an extra £50 million a year bonus for French energy giant EDF.
In a written reply to a MP Martin Howard, Justine Greening from the government Treasury team let out the coalition’s dirty little secret:
The carbon price floor announced in the budget is intended to create economic incentives toward low-carbon electricity generation and away from high-carbon generation. All types of low-carbon technologies will be incentivised by the price floor. The impact on utility companies' profitability will depend on the overall composition of their generation portfolios and future investment decisions.
The existing nuclear sector is likely to benefit by an average of £50 million per annum to 2030 due to higher wholesale electricity prices. Similarly, the renewable energy sector is expected to benefit by an average of at least £25 million a year to 2030.
In plain English this means that the executives, directors and shareholders of nuclear company EDF are about to benefit from a multi-billion pound tax payer giveaway. And as her answer shows, dangerous nuclear power will receive double the support that clean and safe renewables will get.
Commenting on the £50 million bonkers bonus for EDF, Dr Doug Parr from Greenpeace said:
“This is yet another broken promise from this government. We were assured that nuclear was not going to be subsidized but here we are throwing more money at them.
"It is an obscene misuse of taxpayer’s money – instead of lining the already plush nests of the energy companies, the government should be using this money to invest in funding clean forms of energy and efficiency to bring people’s bills down.
"Not even the good news of a small subsidy to the renewable energy sector can hide the fact that this is decision in favour of nuclear which is bad for the environment, bad for the consumer and bad for the country."
ENDS
Contact Greenpeace press office on 0207 865 8255
