Electricity bills could rise by up to £30 per year to avoid blackouts as Britain ‘on the brink of energy crisis’
This winter National Grid will be forced to pay 'exorbitant' sums to keep the lights on, damning report claims
ELECTRICY bills could rise by up to £30 a year to avoid blackouts as Britain teeters 'on the brink of an energy crisis', according to a report.
The damning report last night claimed National Grid will this winter be forced to pay “exorbitant” sums to keep the lights on.
Some £122 million will be handed out to power giants to ensure they keep all their generators in “stand-by mode”.
And Grant Shapps, the former Tory Party chairman, said this could rise to more than £1 billion by the end of the decade.
The costs are eventually picked by consumer through domestic bills.
Mr Shapps said official estimates of a £10 to £15 increase in electricity bills was an “underestimate” - and that the true total was closer to £30 a year by 2020.
The Tory, head of the British Infrastructure Group (BIG), told the Sun: “The only thing between our Christmas lights glowing and blackouts this year will be exorbitant emergency payments to keep the power on.
“In the end we will all end up paying for the decades of mis-management in our power production with ordinary families expected to stump up the difference.”
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New power plants such as the Hinkley nuclear power station won’t start generating until at least 2023.
The BIG said the risk of blackouts proved the need to “put a decade of dithering” behind us and invest in fracking and more renewable power.
Mr Shapps said: “We have to build the energy security Britain needs for her post Brexit future.”
BIG has previously campaigned on air passenger duty and mobile phone coverage, with more than 200 MPs backing specific pieces of research.