Green Energy Costs ‘May Drive Factories Out Of UK’

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Soaring green energy charges will make British industry uncompetitive compared with other leading countries by the end of the decade. A study by the Government’s Department for Business found that electricity prices for manufacturers and other major energy users are set to rise as a result of tighter environmental regulations and taxes. The study shows that the increase in costs will far outstrip those faced by industrial companies in other leading European Union countries that are pursuing a less ambitious green agenda. Manufacturers said that the findings were “extremely worrying”, and warned that factories in Britain could be moved overseas, where environmental regulations were weaker and energy prices lower. --Tim Webb, The Times, 13 July 2012

Green policies are costing Britain’s steelmakers and other heavy electricity users at least double what some of their main European rivals are paying and even more than others in Asia and the US, a UK government report has found. And by 2020, the combined cost of measures such as renewable energy subsidies and greenhouse gas emission standards in Britain is likely to be double what it was in 2011 for high energy users. The findings in the 232-page report prepared for the Department for Business Innovation and Skills underline the criticism voiced by Tata Steel and other industrial companies that environmental levies risk making the UK uncompetitive. --Pilita Clark, Financial Times, 13 July 2012

Mariano Rajoy’s pledge to tax utilities and power consumers signals Spain is planning to raise cash from renewable energy for the first time, a blow to an industry already struggling with subsidy cuts. It could wipe out 75 percent of equity in Spain’s renewable industry. Shares in most Spanish companies with large clean energy interests fell today. Other countries have already raised taxes to the power industry as part of austerity measures. In August, Italy raised corporate taxes to all generators, including renewable-energy plants, by 4 percentage points for three years. Spain’s Unesa lobby group, representing traditional generators, argues that a tax that’s equal for all would leave them with almost no profits and would hurt the companies that produce energy more cheaply. --Marc Roca, Bloomberg, 12 July 2012