Energy

Why Won’t Gov’t Tell The Costs Of Green Energy?

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Andrew Follett Energy and Science Reporter
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Britain’s government seems to have specifically removed quantitative estimates of the costs of wind and solar power from an official report.

The report was  published roughly one year late and has seemingly had most of its cost estimates removed. The few stats that remain are entirely qualitative and do not include numerical approximations, like dollars per megawatt hour, which would normally be considered the principal output of such research.

This means that instead of giving a dollar figure, the report makes statements such as labeling operating expenses on wind and solar power systems “small relative to the direct costs.”

“Given the sensitive nature of the subject, it is entirely reasonable to suspect deliberate suppression of embarrassing estimates,” Dr. John Constable, the GWPF’s energy editor, said in a press statement. “BEIS should without delay publish the unredacted study so that the interested public can assess the true cost of renewable energy.”

U.K. residents pay a whopping 54 percent more for electricity than Americans, and energy taxes cost residents roughly $6.6 billion every year. Green energy subsidies in the U.K regularly exceed spending caps, accounting for roughly 7 percent of energy bills, according to a government study.

Subsidies for green energy will make up 25 percent of power bills by 2020, according to a U.K. Parliament committee. The House of Lords committee warned U.K. power prices increased by 58 percent over the past decade, harming industry and costing families.

“In 2014, 10 percent of the cost of electricity for domestic users was due to climate change policies,” the committee reported. “The Government’s own analysis indicated that this is expected to rise to around a quarter by 2020. This is not transparent however as the cost of the policies is incorporated into electricity bills.”

The U.K. actually has relatively cheap power by European standards, paying roughly 14 cents per kilowatt-hour. Denmark and Germany were the European nations with the most expensive power, with both countries paying roughly 39 cents per kilowatt-hour due to intense fiscal support for green energy.

Polling indicates that 38 percent of British households are cutting back essential purchases, like food, to pay for high energy bills. Another 59 percent of homes are worried about how they are going to pay energy bills. Companies are getting hit by pricey British electricity as well, and some are even leaving the country because of it, threatening up to 40,000 jobs.

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