Green Party peer, Jenny Jones, has welcomed the big payback from renewables that will be helping to reduce energy bills in the autumn and called on the government to double the size of the investment allowed in the next round of renewable energy licenses.
The contract for difference scheme previously acted as a subsidy for renewable energy by offering investors a guaranteed price, but with rising gas prices forcing up energy bills, that guaranteed price is now well below what consumers are paying. A report by the right of centre think tank, Onward, worked out that renewables already save consumers £221 a year because they had displaced gas consumption.
Baroness Jones said:
“Renewable energy has already acted as a brake on rising energy prices and the more renewable energy we have the harder that brake can be applied. Even with the existing price cap, consumers were due to get around a £100 back over the next five years. With the price cap going up again, that will mean an even larger renewables payback. Of course, what we really need is for the government to double the amount of renewable energy it allows to be developed in the next year and to invest in a more flexible national grid that enables this to happen. The faster we go renewable the quicker we will see electricity bills coming down.”
Notes
The report by Onward can be found here:
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb 