With ink on the approval for the country’s first nuclear power station for a generation barely dry, critics are already trying to unpick the deal, especially the agreement on the “strike price” for the electricity generated.
It may seem high compared to today’s prices, but in the long term it will prove good value. It will not be the cheapest, but it will be a source of power every day of the year, which is not the case for wind power.
We already pay a high price for green energy with government subsidies as well as the green tariffs loaded on to our electricity bills, so the tax payer pays, whether they use the electricity or not. It is interesting watching the claim and counter claims over who is responsible for the current 10% increases in fuel costs this winter.
"We already pay a high price for green energy with government subsidies as well as the green tariffs loaded on to our electricity bills, so the tax payer pays, whether they use the electricity or not."
No doubt the wholesale fuel market will have an impact but as petrol and diesel prices have fallen to their lowest levels for over a year, it is hard to see how liquefied gas can have risen in price so steeply so as to offset the price falls in diesel and petrol. Unless the power companies have purchased at too high a price, which is not a cost that should be borne by the customer, but by the company’s shareholders.
Transparency is the main issue with so many things. Great efforts are put in to creating obscurity out of apparent transparency. It was an effective tool during the war to deceive the enemy. Anyone who has come across Operation Mincemeat will understand.
I sometimes think the promoters and detractors of major schemes operate on the same principles. HS2 is a good example: both camps selectively use information to promote their case. The truth is no one really knows whether it is a good deal or not. We get blitzed with stuff described as facts, which are only opinions and projections.
As Georg Hegel, the German philosopher, said: ”Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights.” Whether it is something as tragic as the conflict in Syria or something as mundane as the case for HS2, we are faced with two sides that genuinely believe that they are absolutely right.
Returning to the new nuclear power station, my only quibble is that the striking price is one that reflects the risk to the power company of such a long-term project so to cover the project under the Infrastructure Guarantee as well seems generous.
It’s worth it, even if it is just as an alternative to those ghastly wind farms.
