Letter to the Western Mail - wind power

Dear Editor,

SIR - Dr John Etherington's claims about the cost to consumers of wind-generated electricity (Letters, October 6) are simply wrong. His comments give the impression that wind generated electricity is expensive when even offshore wind is forecast to be cheaper than new coal or nuclear generation. Falling on shore wind prices are already competitive with existing, long-subsidised coal and nuclear stations and will actually reduce consumer bills in the coming years as gas generation prices rise and the UK becomes a major gas importer.

The Renewables Obligation is designed so as not to affect consumer bills in any significant way. It is an internal incentive for the supply companies to buy a fair share of renewable power including the relatively more expensive renewables such as biomass and some marine technologies. The 3p/kWhr is a penalty payment which passes from suppliers that fail to buy their fair share to those that do.

Similarly, the Climate Change Levy is an incentive scheme targeting the business use of some carbon-producing fuels and electricity. The Levy revenue is mostly fed back to business through reduced employers' national insurance contributions and energy efficiency measures. The 0.45 p/kWh charge is not levied on renewables because they are low carbon emitters.

Lastly, his comparison with 'cheap' Economy 7, is curious as this scheme is an incentive for consumers to purchase the subsidised and inflexible night time output of coal and nuclear stations.

Dr Etherington appears to be critical of policies to encourage any renewables, critical of one of the few energy efficiency and carbon reduction policies, and against subsidies except those for coal and nuclear generation. He is also making wrong assumptions and false comparisons so we urge the public to disregard his conclusions.

Yours sincerely,

Neil Crumpton
Energy Spokesperson
Friends of the Earth Cymru