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UK power bills may rise 5 pct to pay for renewables |
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| UK: March 7, 2002 | ||
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LONDON - British consumers will have to pay up to 780 million pounds a year extra for electricity by 2010 to meet the costs of supporting high-cost renewable energy schemes, the government said.
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The increase is equivalent to a five percent rise in electricity prices, John Doddrell, director of the sustainable energy policy unit at the Department of Trade and Industry, told a conference. "The cost to consumers will be quiet substantial," Doddrell told delegates. The government plans to introduce a so-called renewables obligation in April, forcing suppliers to buy a certain amount of their electricity from renewable sources. The rules to bring the obligation into force are being debated in parliament yesterday, Doddrell said. From April, suppliers will have to buy three percent of their power from green sources, a figure which rises to around 10 percent in 2010. The government hopes the obligation will kick-start the green power sector. Companies have already announced plans to invest millions of pounds in offshore wind farms. Britain produces just less than three percent of its electricity from green sources. The government has set a target of increasing this to 10 percent by 2010.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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