UK NEW ENERGY WOULD SAVE RATEPAYERS BILLIONS

Switch to low-carbon future would save households £1,600; A saving of £45bn should be good news, but the study’s conclusions clash with the pursuit of gas

Tom Bawden, 23 May 2013 (UK Independent)

“…Overturning the general consensus that green electricity is more expensive than gas-generated power, a parliamentary advisory committee finds that while ‘decarbonising’ the energy supply will cost more in the next few years, the expense will quickly become negligible and will save British households £45bn, or £1,600 apiece, after 2030…[And even if] Britain is sitting on vast amounts of accessible shale gas… – which won’t be clear for at least a few years - the case for a low-carbon energy revolution in the UK is still ‘robust’, adds the Climate Change Committee (CCC) report…

“The report…provides by far the most [long term] comprehensive analysis of the relative cost of gas and low-carbon energy sources…It concedes that subsidies already in place to green Britain’s energy supply will add £100 to the average annual household energy bill between 2010 and 2020…[and that] a predominantly green energy supply - in which 90 per cent of electricity is generated from low-carbon sources by 2030 - would add a further £20 by the end of the next decade.”

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“But after that, the upfront costs of renewable energy plants such as wind and solar, will have been largely paid for, while developments in fledgling low-carbon technologies will dramatically reduce its cost – meaning that by 2050, consumers will be much better off than if the energy generators focused that investment on gas power plants…

“…Britain is legally bound to generate 15 per cent of its energy – or about a third of its electricity – from renewable sources by 2020. But unless MPs vote through the 2030 decarbonisation amendment, there will be no low-carbon electricity target beyond 2020…The CCC’s £45bn [savings] estimate…could potentially rise as high £100bn – or more than £3,000 per household…”

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