Winds of change

The intense media attention given to the Growth Report has made not a single mention of the lack of cost data associated with the goals of the Climate Change bill.

For example, phasing out the use of gas energy (4p per unit) and replacing with renewable electricity (16p per unit) will triple consumer energy bills in the event of the demise of the UK grid – a harsh blow to the 35 per cent of Scots living in fuel poverty which MSPS pledged to eliminate by 2016.

In addition, half of the £20 billion to install the current 10,000MW of wind turbines remains to be paid off, hence £1 billion per year over the next decade will add a further £500 to bills, raising the total to £5,000.

The energy gap from phasing out gas will be filled by around 90,000MW of offshore wind turbines (£5 million per MW installed), resulting in a capital cost of £450 billion. Paying it off over 20 years results in an annual bill of £25 billion (inclusive of interest costs) which adds £10,000 per annum to household energy costs, raising the total to £15,000.

Finally, as demand drops sharply over the summer, the 90,000MW of plant will be due constraint payments of around £5 billion a year, adding a further £2,000 to household bills. Note that the £17,000 a year cost is around the total take-home pay of the average worker in Scotland, hence no cash for rent, food or travel. It would appear Scots can meet the targets of the Climate Change bill or support Indyref2 but cannot do both,

IAN MOIR Queen Street, Castle Douglas