Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much the Government has spent on renewable energy through the Contracts for Difference programme.

Contracts for Difference (CfDs) are funded through a levy on GB electricity suppliers, and ultimately by consumers through their energy bills. £636.4m has been spent on renewable electricity generation through the CfD since the first project started generating in 2016/17. The latest forecasts published by the Office for Budget Responsibility estimate an annual scheme cost of £3bn by 2022/23, the year by which all current CfD projects are expected to have commissioned. In the Clean Growth Strategy, published in October 2017, Government confirmed it would be making up to £557m (in 2011/12 prices) of annual support available for further CfDs.