LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]



Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Misinformation about energy subsidies 

Credit:  CATS - Communities Against Turbines Scotland | www.communitiesagainstturbinesscotland.com | Press officer: Linda Holt 01333 720378 / 07590994690 lindaholt@supanet.com ~~

Contrary to popular myth, electricity generation by coal and gas is not subsidised at all by taxpayers or consumers while subsidy for renewables is expected to total £1.78 billion in 2012

A new study by independent consultant Stuart Young explodes the myths that all forms of electricity generation are subsidised and that oil and gas receive far more subsidy than renewables.

According to the new peer-reviewed paper released today by CATS

• claims that gas, oil and coal prices were subsidised by £3.63bn in 2010 are totally misleading

• they are predicated upon a highly inventive and dubious notion of “subsidy”

• the £3.63bn “fossil fuel tax breaks” are an imaginary relief on a level of taxation on domestic fuel which never has and almost certainly never will be levied

• On the other hand, the £0.7bn subsidy to wind with which it was compared is indeed a true subsidy to assist an unreliable technology which is likely to rise to at least £1.06bn for 2012, and to which a further £0.72bn subsidy to other renewables and an unknown sum for Feed-In Tariffs need to be added.

• The anticipated £1.78 bn subsidy to renewables in 2012 will be paid for by 66 million people in the UK – which means £27 per head of population or £65 per household

• This figure excludes the cost of the Feed-In Tariff, VAT at 5% (and your electricity supplier’s profit margin).

Susan Crosthwaite, Chair of CATS commented:

“For years the wind industry’s propaganda machine has been pulling the wool over people’s eyes, pretending green energy is free yet deserving of ever more subsidy. Every time electricity bills rise, supporters of wind point the finger at fossil fuel prices, insisting that wind subsidies can’t be to blame because all forms of electricity generation are subsidised.

This is a blatant untruth. Stuart Young has shown that oil and gas receive no meaningful subsidy while wind will cost consumers over £1.8 billion in covert subsidy by the end of the year.

Wind energy is a flawed technology – take away the subsidy and no one would build any more turbines.

On top of the ROCs and FITs – the subsidy schemes for wind – consumers have to fund the oncosts of wind energy. This means the ever increasing costs of expanding and upgrading the grid to collect the energy from thousands of turbines spread across the UK, plus the costs of maintaining and developing base-load generation (for when the wind doesn’t blow).

When SSE announced price hikes of 9% in domestic gas and electricity prices last week, it had to admit that the cost of distributing energy to customers’ home is up 9% since last year and mandatory environmental and social initiative costs have risen by as much as 30%.

The self-serving response of the wind lobbyists and their misguided supporters in green NGOs like Friends of the Earth to such announcements is to call for even more renewables. More renewables means more guaranteed profiteering for the wind energy companies and their hangers-on, but for the rest of us, it means ever higher bills, fuel poverty and an economy crippled by some of the highest energy prices in Europe.”

Notes for Editors

1. Stuart Young is an independent consultant and committed campaigner against windfarm development. He is the author of “Analysis of UK Wind Power Generation November 2008 to December 2010”, commonly known as “The John Muir Report” http://www.jmt.org/assets/pdf/Report_Analysis%20UK%20Wind_SYoung.pdf
He can be contacted at 01847 851813, 07717 295235 or at asksyc@btconnect.com
2. Communities Against Turbines Scotland (CATS) is an umbrella group representing communities and individuals struggling against the relentless development of wind turbines. www.communitiesagainstturbinesscotland.com

Source:  CATS - Communities Against Turbines Scotland | www.communitiesagainstturbinesscotland.com | Press officer: Linda Holt 01333 720378 / 07590994690 lindaholt@supanet.com

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon