UK green energy subsidies to force £600 extra from households, Civatas report says

Further, the green energy subsidies in pursuit of EU renewable targets would cost consumers an excess of £16bn a year within seven years, the report stated.

Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) John Constable has written in the report that the subsidies are deterring the innovation that is required to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources.

Constable in his paper, ‘Are Green Times Just Around the Corner?’, claims that the transformation to renewable energy would drop the standard of living.

"The fact is that renewable energy is still far from competitive with fossil fuels, and nowhere near as economically productive," he stated.

"Consequently, shifting to current renewables for the bulk of our energy would result in a reversal of the long-run economic trend since the industrial revolution.

"More people would be working for lower wages in the energy sector, energy costs would rise, the economy would stagnate, and there would be a significant decline in the standard of living."

Citing EU’s 2009 Renewables Directive that mandates 155 accountancy of Britain’s energy consumption from renewables by 2020, Constable states that it leads to UK carrying 25% of the total bloc-wide cost of the directive.

However, the federal government of UK, in response to Civitas’ publication, stated that it does not recognise the numbers the report claims and added that the report is a manifesto to continue British economy’s dependency on imported gas from uncertain nations.

Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) spokesperson said the report overlooks four aspects first of which is claiming that the household cost increase is caused by green energy subsidies, while it is because of global gas price that surged 60% hike in electric bills.

"Second, the costs of renewables are coming down, we’ve already cut the subsidies for onshore wind and solar and in future all green technologies will have to compete to deliver the best bang for the buck," the spokesperson added.

"Third, our household energy efficiency policies are more than offsetting the costs of clean energy investment. By 2020 the average household bill will be £166 lower than it would be if we were doing nothing.

"And lastly, investment in renewable energy is helping support growth through jobs and investment – between 2011 and 2012 investment amounting to £12.7 billion, with the potential support of around 22,800 jobs."