From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

Sounds like the media are finally waking up to Miliband’s lies:

This new analysis is written by Ben James of Axle Energy, who are strong supporters of Net Zero:

From the Mail:

Ed Miliband’s Net Zero drive will add £160 to annual electricity bills by 2030 – despite wholesale energy prices falling over the same period, according to new research.

An analysis of costs that make up household electricity bills found that Britons will be paying £265 more a year by the end of the decade.

This is due to a rise in green levies, also known as policy costs, to help meet Labour’s ambition of decarbonising the UK’s electricity grid by 2030.

The extra charges will more than offset an expected £105 reduction in the cost of wholesale electricity as a result of cheaper renewable power.

It means an overall increase in average electricity bills of £160, or 16 per cent, by 2030.

Full story here.

The penultimate sentence is an outright lie; clearly the Mail reporter has not read the report properly. Wholesale prices won’t fall “because of cheaper renewable power”; they will fall because the price of gas is expected to come down. But more on that later.

This is Ben James’ table:

His data and assumptions are all linked, and you can hover over each segment.

These are the main points:

• Renewable Obligations will reduce annual bills by £34, as a result of older renewable generators leaving the scheme.
• Wholesale costs will save a further £71, reflecting lower gas prices. This is in line with DESNZ projections for international gas prices.
• Capacity Market, FIT and CfD subsidies will increase bills by £57
• System balancing will add £50
• Grid upgrades, both transmission and distribution will add a further £101

Of course, the £160 increase only tells part of the story. Households consume less than a third of UK electricity. Higher electricity prices for business and government will push up the price we pay for their goods and increase our taxes. One way or another, the public ends up paying the bill!

In total terms, the real cost to households will be more like £500 a year, equivalent to £13 billion a year. This is on top of the £20 billion or so we are already paying.

None of these should come as any surprise at all, because NESO told us the same a year ago:

NESO projected that labour’s Clean Power 2030 plan would push up balancing and grid costs by £25/MWh, around £8 billion a year. That does not even include the cost of upgrading local distribution networks or all of the grid upgrades.

Moreover, the claim that cost of generation would fall by £15/MWh was an outright lie. It was based on the assumption of a massive hike in carbon tax on gas generation, which consequently allowed claims of “cheaper renewables”.

As Ben James calculates, extra renewables will increase generation costs, not reduce them, probably by something in the region of £5 billion a year.

Meanwhile DESNZ is still in denial:

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: ‘We don’t accept this analysis, which over-estimates future costs and ignores the benefits of clean energy.

‘Energy bills are still too high, which is why the Government is taking urgent action to support families this winter, including expanding the £150 Warm Home Discount to 2.7 million more households.

‘The only way to bring down energy bills for good is by making Britain a clean energy superpower, which will get us off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel prices and onto clean, homegrown power that we control.’

If anything, Ben James has underestimated future costs, given the rocketing costs of offshore wind power. Moreover, his figures are underpinned by NESO’s – does DESNZ “not accept” them either?

As for the “benefits of green energy”, there are none!

The Warm Homes Discount the clown is muttering about does nothing to address the underlying problem of high energy prices – it is simply a redistribution from poor people to even poorer ones. (To be eligible, you need to be on some sort of benefit, such as Pension and Universal Credit). It is worth £150 pa, which will of course soon be wiped out by Miliband’s price increases!

Clean energy superpower! The meaningless rantings of Ed Miliband.

As for that “rollercoaster”, it is currently near the top – we should be taking a free ride to the bottom, not locking ourselves into 20-year fixed high prices for renewables.