Sizewell C is a proposed 3.2-gigawatt nuclear power station planned for the Suffolk coast – Martin Keene
Ed Miliband has sunk an extra £2.7bn into Sizewell C after EDF slashed its stake in the nuclear power project.
The Energy Secretary said the additional money would boost energy security, jobs and the race for net zero. However, anti-Sizewell campaigners questioned the wisdom of pouring billions into a project that the Government has still not taken a final decision to build.
UK taxpayers have so far spent a total of £8bn on the nuclear power station.
The latest cash is thought to be aimed at building confidence in the project, potentially attracting other investors as EDF steps back.
The French energy giant recently reduced its stake from 24pc to 16pc amid pressure from Emmanuel Macron, the French president, to cut back on risky overseas commitments. EDF was told it should instead focus on making a success of multibillion-euro projects at home, ensuring they were profitable and built on time.
Sizewell C is a proposed 3.2-gigawatt nuclear power station planned for the Suffolk coast, potentially generating power for 6m homes.
Its design would be similar to the Hinkley Point C power station being built by EDF in Somerset, whose start date has been delayed by a decade to the mid-2030s with costs that have doubled to £40bn.
Sizewell C was given the go-ahead by the last government and the £2.7bn is in addition to the £1.2bn made available by Mr Miliband since July last year, as well as the £4bn spent by the previous administration.
The money has gone to Sizewell C Ltd, the company set up by the Government and EDF, so far the only other investor in the project.
‘Spending money like water’
EDF’s decision to trim its involvement has forced the UK Government into an undignified search for alternative investors. Those approached are said to include Centrica, the owner of British Gas, Emirates Nuclear Energy, Amber Infrastructure Group and Schroders Greencoat, with Barclays advising the Government.
Mr Miliband said: “We are injecting a further £2.7bn for Sizewell C to continue preparatory works, and build up their supply chain and workforce ahead of the government’s final investment decision.
“Sizewell C is the UK’s single biggest electricity project under development and will generate clean power for millions of homes.”
The money will be used to fund preparatory work such as building foundations and preparing for a 10,000-strong workforce.
A spokesman for Mr Miliband confirmed the likely final cost of Sizewell C had not yet been made public and said a final investment decision would be announced in June, roughly coinciding with Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s planned spending review.
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Alison Downes of Stop Sizewell C, which is campaigning against the project, said: “Sizewell C is spending money like water despite no certainty about its funding, and no final investment decision.
“All this for a project for which ministers refuse to reveal the headline cost and for which consumers will be forced to pay a tariff on their energy bills.”
Ms Downes was referring to Mr Miliband’s proposal to fund Sizewell’s construction via direct levies on consumer power bills – a system known technically as a regulated asset base.
This contrasts with the way Hinkley was funded, which was through loans. These attracted high interest rates because the project was deemed unusually risky.
Under the alternative Sizewell scheme, each household would pay an annual levy on their power bill to fund Sizewell’s construction as it happened, thereby reducing long-term borrowing.
Mr Miliband’s department has suggested this would add an average £12 a year to consumer bills. Some industry experts challenge this, pointing out that such a levy would raise only around £4bn over 10 years – a fraction of what’s needed. The real levy would likely be two to three times larger, they say.
Dale Vince, the founder of power suppliers Ecotricity and a long-term critic of nuclear power, said: “The UK is short of money but we’ve poured £8bn into this white elephant already.”
