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Renewables Obligation Subsidies Top £100 Billion

The cost of Renewables Obligation subsidies has now topped £100 billion, according to Government statistics recently released. Weren't solar and wind supposed to be cheap, asks Paul Homewood.

3 min read

The cost of Renewables Obligation subsidies has now topped £100 billion, according to Government statistics recently released.

Subsidy payments are increased in line with RPI inflation every year, but at 2025 prices the bill since 2010 has now risen to £101.2 billion. Last year alone renewable generators received subsidies of £7.7 billion. Two thirds go to wind and solar farms, which we are told are the cheapest forms of energy.

Until last month, all these subsidies were paid for through our electricity bills. From April 2026, some of the cost is now being funded out of general taxation – but either way, we still have to pay.

Bear in mind that, in addition to these subsidies, renewable generators also sell their electricity on the market. Effectively we are paying twice for the power they produce.

The Renewables Obligation Scheme (RO) covers renewable generators built before 2017, when the scheme was replaced for new generators by the Contracts for Difference subsidy. The scheme lasts for 20 years for each generator, so we will continue to pay billions out for many years to come.

Every year Ofgem sets a target for licensed electricity suppliers. Suppliers must source a certain proportion of the electricity they supply to customers from renewable sources, expressed as a number of Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) per megawatt-hour (MWh) supplied.

In turn, wind farms and other renewable generators accredited under the Renewables Obligation Scheme are awarded ROCs. Suppliers can either buy these from the generators or pay

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11 Comments
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Axel
Axel
4 months ago

“The cost of Renewables Obligation subsidies has now topped £100 billion, according to Government statistics recently released”. I would like to be able to point unbelievers to the source(s) for this statement and for that chart. Does anyone have the source(s), please?

RTSC
RTSC
4 months ago

This is the biggest transfer of wealth from “the peasants” to WEF Corporations and their political partners in our history.

With NO mandate whatsoever. Fortunately, yesterday’s Local Election may signal the end of the SCAM.

JXB
JXB
4 months ago

A billion here, a billion there – soon we’ll be talking real money.

JohnK
JohnK
4 months ago

This tax year, the Feed in Tariff has switched to last September’s CPI; until the end of 2025-26 it was RPI.

transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
4 months ago

“There was never any democratic mandate for any of this. At no stage were the public consulted, never mind given the opportunity to vote on renewable energy policy, Ed Miliband’s 2008 Climate Change Act or Theresa May’s suicidal Net Zero law.”

Sort of. We don’t really do referenda here so it’s up to voters to decide where the red lines are. If there were no parties opposing this stuff, spoil your ballot paper.

mrbu
mrbu
4 months ago

Indeed, this has tended to be the case under our system. If all the main parties are agreed on a particular policy, then no way of voting in a General Election will overturn it. The next General Election might be the first one that gives the public a chance to vote against Net Zero with meaningful results.

LadbrokeGrove
LadbrokeGrove
4 months ago

If only there was a ‘none of the above’ box on the ballot paper, spoiling it is ignored by politicians.

transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
4 months ago
Reply to  LadbrokeGrove

If there were more spoiled ballot papers than votes for the winning candidate, the media would not be ignoring it.

CrisBCTnew
CrisBCTnew
4 months ago

With NOTA, the MSM couldn’t ignore nobody being elected to the seat!

transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
4 months ago
Reply to  CrisBCTnew

Thousands of spoiled ballot papers in multiple constituencies would be a big story.

CrisBCTnew
CrisBCTnew
4 months ago
Reply to  LadbrokeGrove

That’s why we need NOTA – None Of The Above – on every ballot paper. With NOTA, nobody is voted in. Hurrah!

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