I have just read an article in The Telegraph about the public being kept in
the dark over green costs. Those of us attending the last SciBar evening (How Electricity is Priced in the UK, delivered by John Conway and Zack Stevens) are not.
John and Zack of Eon gave presentations that revealed the charges
hidden in electricity bills. Zack spoke first on what influences UK electricity
prices, largely the price of gas. He showed how the price of gas is determined by
world demand and pinch points where liquified natural gas (and oil) is
transported to Europe. (CL - this is not true in Germany as electricity
prices are determined by the world price of coal, much cheaper than using gas.
German electricity have fallen as a result of coal prices.)
John then took over to break down an electricity bill into its components,
over twenty. I threatened to test the audience on Triads that John had
explained. He showed how the various green levies are soaring. Only about 60% of
electricity bills are for the actual electricity received. Going back to The
Telegraph article it clearly states that if green targets were scrapped and
substituted with gas then average electricity bills would come down by
£214. Should the electorate be told these figures?
Looking in more detail showed how the renewables obligation charges, put
simply as subsidies for wind farms, are rising by a factor of five over ten
years. Feed in tariffs (mainly to subsidise solar panels) have risen by a factor
of six over the past two years alone. Then obviously in the background the
agreed price for the first new nuclear station will effectively double the price
of electricity in real terms. Customers start paying for this later this
year.
So the question is should Governments come clean (no pun intended) on these
costs so voters can make a judgement? What main political party wants to admit
this? Politicians either do not understand this, or choose not to. It is better
to blame power companies for excessive profits.
It should be noted that these are my thoughts, not the thoughts put across
by Eon at the SciBar unless specifically stated.
Chris Lewis
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