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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to (a) the public purse and (b) each household of renewable subsidies to (i) the Drax power station and (ii) all power stations that burn biomass for energy.

The Renewables Obligation and Contracts for Difference schemes support Drax and other power stations that burn biomass to generate renewable electricity. There is no cost to the public purse as both schemes are paid for by compulsory levies on electricity suppliers. In 2020/21, the total cost to suppliers in Great Britain of the support for Drax under the Renewables Obligation was £467.2m, and the cost for all power stations, including Drax, that burn biomass for energy was £914.5m[1]. Payments to individual biomass generating stations supported by the Contracts for Difference scheme are published by the Low Carbon Contracts Company on their Data Portal[2]. The Government does not assess the cost to individual householders of the support specifically for stations using biomass.

[1] Support under the Renewables Obligation is through tradeable certificates. The figures, which are provisional as not all the certificates may have been issued yet, give the cost to suppliers based on Ofgem’s certificate report as at 14 January 2022 from their Renewables and CHP Register at: https://www.renewablesandchp.ofgem.gov.uk/Public/ReportViewer.aspx?ReportPath=/DatawarehouseReports/CertificatesExternalPublicDataWarehouse&ReportVisibility=1&ReportCategory=2

[2] The Low Carbon Contracts Company’s Data Portal is at: https://www.lowcarboncontracts.uk/dashboards/cfd/actuals-dashboards/historical-dashboard