How green subsidies drive up energy bills

SIR – Michael Edwards (Letters, August 4) says that governments are reluctant to force energy suppliers to show the amount that customers pay in green energy subsidies.

My supplier, Scottish and Southern, does provide a full breakdown of the bill. The last one showed that the company’s profit represented 5 per cent of the total. The Government’s share was 13 per cent, made up of

5 per cent VAT and around 9 per cent “environmental and social schemes”.

If the Government is serious about reducing energy bills then it’s obvious where it should start. Richard J Smith

Reading, Berkshire

SIR – There is no energy infrastructure being built today without subsidy. The real question is whether the Government is making the best use of taxpayers’ money. The National Audit Office estimates that supporting fossil fuel plants will add £20 to consumer bills by 2020. The latest evidence is that onshore wind is the cheapest form of all new generation, including fossil fuels.

Britain has some of the best resources in the world for developing secure, renewable domestic power. A recent House of Lords report showed that the main cause of rising electricity bills over the past 14 years was international fossil fuel prices.

We agree that the Government must make sure consumers have access to cheap, affordable energy. Renewables are not an obstacle to this goal but, rather, essential to delivering it. Emma Pinchbeck

Executive Director, Renewableuk London SW1

SIR – The cost to the consumer of renewable subsidies is demonstrated by a Biogas plant in Plaistow, West Sussex. It produces biomethane from crops and slurry.

According to Ofgem records, it received subsidies of £2,795,466 for the 12 months 20/5/2015 to 19/05/2016. In a recent planning inquiry, it was stated that the plant produces enough biomethane to meet the energy requirements of 4,323 homes. Simple maths shows that this equates to a government subsidy of £646.65 per home. David Jordan

Plaistow, West Sussex