Hinkley Point

Viscount Ridley Excerpts

Wednesday 11th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grantchester (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Viscount Ridley (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, I repeat the point I made about the high standards of nuclear safety. We are aware of the alleged defects at the Le Creusot works. We are working on that, and it will not affect the generic design assessment process that is going on at Hinkley Point C.

[Viscount Ridley]

My Lords, can my noble friend tell us, at the current price of electricity, what his department’s estimate is of the subsidy that will be paid by energy bill payers in this country over the 35 years of the Hinkley Point contract to Chinese and French investors? Is it true that the figure will be a staggering £50 billion?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, my noble friend will be aware that the strike price is £92.50 on the assumption that we do not go ahead with Sizewell. If we do, which we may well, it will come down. This is unaffected by all these issues with the works council—the strike price is set, and increased costs and any minor difficulties do not affect the strike price at all.