Row between chancellor and energy secretary over onshore wind subsidies exacerbated by difference of opinion on gas
Fresh details have emerged about the deepening row between the chancellor and energy and climate change secretary over renewables subsidies, centring around the future role of gas in the UK energy mix.
George Osborne and Ed Davey have been at loggerheads over the subsidy rates that will be paid to renewable energy generators from April next year with the row having already forced the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to delay this week’s anticipated announcement on new support rates, prompting an angry response from the CBI and green businesses.
Reports in the Financial Times today suggest the disagreement centres around the chancellor’s desire to keep gas at the centre of UK energy policy.
Osborne is believed to be concerned that subsidies for renewable energy will prevent investment in new gas-fired power stations and as such is calling for deeper cuts to renewable energy subsidies than had been planned.
