Ed Miliband's green energy subsidies cost one billion pounds

By Tim Montgomerie
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Tory MP Dom Raab has revealed that the energy subsidies that Ed Miliband introduced when he was Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change have exploded in cost. Mr Miliband introduced subsidies of household solar panels and wind turbines when he was in Gordon Brown's Cabinet. Although the efficiency of many of these green energy sources has declined the subsidy of them has increased dramatically.

The Telegraph reports that the cost of these subsidies over the course of the parliament may add up to one billion pounds. That will be paid for by taxpayers and by people who can hardly afford to heat their homes. The Coalition has cut the feed-in tariffs that new green energy installations receive but the taxpayer is contractually bound to honour the subsidies that Ed Miliband promised to those who took up his programme when he was the responsible Cabinet minister.

Mr Raab commented:

“Ed Miliband’s flagship green subsidies have proved a ludicrously expensive way of backing inefficient technology. If he can do that for energy policy, just think what damage he would wreak on the economy. The solar subsidies inherited from Labour have been nothing short of a giant boondoggle. It’s crazy for politicians to try to pick scientific and commercial winners. It just ends up hiking energy bills paid by hard-pressed households and business, without making us more energy efficient.”

See reports in the Mail and Telegraph.