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Committee on Climate Change reaffirms that gas prices led to energy price rise

15 December 2011

  • Government body finds that 64% of price rises caused by increasing wholesale energy prices
  • Only 6.5% of price rise caused by support for low-carbon energy

RenewableUK, the trade association for the wind, wave & tidal industry, has welcomed research by the Committee on Climate Change which shows that rising gas prices are the major cause of rising household energy bills – and that support for renewable energy plays a very minor part.

Households that have dual-fuel (gas and electricity) bills have seen their energy costs rise from £605 in 2004 to £1060 in 2010, an increase of 75%. Only £30 – or 6.5% - of this increase related to support for low-carbon energy, compared to £290 for increasing costs of gas and supplier costs.

Dr Gordon Edge, RenewableUK’s Director of Policy, said “This important analysis by the Committee on Climate Change reaffirms the impact of over-reliance on fossil fuels on our energy bills, and demonstrates the need to move towards a power supply less dependent on a finite resource.”  

The Committee found that investing low-carbon generation, which includes renewable energy and nuclear power, will raise bills by £100 between now and 2020 – far less than the inflated claims made by critics of renewables.

“No-one is claiming that supporting renewable energy up to the point when it becomes competitive in the market place will be free – but the cost of not doing so would be far higher. Over the last decade, rising fossil fuel prices have pushed up energy bills by more than double the amount that low-carbon investment is expected to do so in this one. And that extra £100 brings us more stable prices, a UK industry, and reduced dependence on imports, making investment in renewable energy excellent value for money,” Dr Edge concluded.

 

-ENDS-

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Notes:

RenewableUK is the trade and professional body for the UK wind and marine renewables industries. Formed in 1978, and with more than 700 corporate members, RenewableUK is the leading renewable energy trade association in the UK. Wind has been the world's fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, and this trend is expected to continue with falling costs of wind energy and the urgent international need to tackle CO2 emissions to prevent climate change.