UK households face rise in energy bills

Consumers will have to pay hundreds of pounds more on their electricity bills in future because the Government has failed to invest enough in cheap alternative sources like wind and solar power, the Royal Society has warned.

The UK Government has committed to cutting greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by 2050 to tackle climate change. Most of the cuts will have to come from switching from fossil fuels such as oil and coal to renewable energy sources like the wind or waves.

However a new report by the Royal Society has found a “disappointing rate of progress” on new technology such as offshore wind turbines, solar panels and biofuels.

The document by the country’s leading scientists said the UK will have to invest billions more in developing new technologies as well as building a new generation of nuclear power stations and investing in “clean coal”. The bill is most likely to be paid by energy companies through a system of incentives and taxes.

Professor John Shepherd, lead author of the report, said ultimately consumers will end up paying.

“We have to be prepared to pay more for energy as a whole than we have been used to in order to avoid the side effects on the environment and have cleaner sources of energy in the future,” he said.
Lord Turner, the Government’s adviser on climate change, has already warned that electricity bills may have to rise by around £500 per annum over the next decade.

Prof Shepherd said it was likely to cost the consumer hundreds of pounds every year. However he said the cost could be even greater if the UK continues to rely on fossil fuels as the cost of oil and coal continues to rise.

“Would a few per cent on your electricity bills really be too much to pay for a sustainable energy future?” he asked. “I do not think it would.”

Prof Shepherd also said the UK will have to invest in nuclear despite safety concerns. Britain’s nuclear watchdog recently admitted there were more than 1,750 leaks, breakdowns or other “events” over the past seven years.

Again Prof Shepherd said the Government has failed to invest in the technology but the industry could be developed by employing more engineers and experts from abroad.
Coal will also have to be used in the future despite concerns about the carbon emissions through investing in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The Royal Society are calling for any new power stations to capture 90 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 – much tougher than the Government’s “disappointing” current policy.

However in the long run Prof Shepherd, a climate scientist at Southampton University, said the UK must rely on renewables like solar and wind.

“For the sake of future generations we cannot afford to wait until our climate is changed dramatically or the oil runs out before we end our dependency on fossil fuels,” he warned.
Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change minister, said the UK will be setting out a vision for renewables in a white paper due to be revealed next month.

“We have identified ways to tackle the challenges – we will need a mix of renewables, clean fossil fuels and nuclear and we’re already making world leading progress in those areas,” he said.

Source - The Telegraph