It will cost every household in the UK at least £2,000 to comply with the new European Union target of producing 15 per cent of all energy from renewable sources by 2020, according to a report commissioned by the government. The report also says the UK will have to spend far more to meet the target than other EU countries, because the UK lags behind the rest of Europe on renewables and is a heavy energy user. According to energy consultancy Pöyry, the bill for the UK to meet the target would be at least €5bn a year for more than a decade, compared with just over €3bn a year for France and Germany, and well under €500m for most other countries. Energy companies are expected to pass on to consumers – who already face soaring utility bills – the costs of building the necessary wind farms, biomass plants and solar generators.

Chris Goodall, author of How to Live a Low-Carbon Life, says even these estimates are conservative, and fail to take into account the huge investment needed to connect new renewable and micro-generators to the national grid. A government spokeswoman admitted that meeting the EU target would be challenging, but added: ‘We must make these hard choices if we are to tackle climate change.’ Tomorrow, German firms Eon and RWE, Spanish-owned Scottish Power, and Scottish and Southern Energy will enter the government’s competition to build the world’s first large carbon capture and storage test plant. Centrica has already dropped out.

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