Government Levies on Energy Bills
Debate between Tim Yeo and Andrew Percy
Mr Yeo
I had a hunch that that was the issue the hon. Lady would raise. For the most part I agree with a great deal of what she says on this and some other subjects. It is perfectly true that, arithmetically, nuclear is very expensive. I think that the decision, which I support, can be justified on only two grounds. The first is that I am uncertain that, even with all the other support, we will be able to generate enough electricity from low-carbon renewables to meet the targets we have set for 2020 and beyond, from 2030 through to 2050. It would need some pretty heroic assumptions about the roll-out of some of the technologies to think that we could replace the whole of the electricity currently generated by nuclear with electricity from other low-carbon sources.
Secondly, I think there is a real prospect—though I do not suppose I will carry the hon. Lady on this point—of the cost of nuclear coming down substantially if we see a big expansion of the industry. Nuclear power stations in China, for example, are going to become almost a commodity given the number that will be rolled out. In the 2020s, we might find that we will be able to buy them off the peg at a much lower price than the admittedly high price currently expected for Hinkley Point.
Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con)
I, too, share my hon. Friend’s concern that we will not be able to replace current generation with renewables in the way predicted. Does he, therefore, share my concern that, because of the recent “final investment decision enabling for renewables” process, we are likely to lose Eggborough power station, which currently accounts for between 2% and 4% of the UK’s generating capacity, along with 800 jobs? Given that it was a shovel-ready project, it is frankly bonkers and utterly barking mad that it has not been given the go-ahead for biomass conversion.