Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, has written a letter to Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh criticising the level of subsidy contracts in AR8, calling it “grossly negligent” to do so without a firm idea of what it will cost consumers.

AR8, the eighth allocation round for the contracts for difference (CfD) scheme, is designed to protect developers of renewables from price dips, and thus support the growth of alternative energy sources.

However, subsidy levels have been criticised in its various iterations for being too low (resulting in no contracts) or too high (adding to bills), as Fahnbulleh recently conceded.

Coutinho commented: “Labour’s Energy Secretary admitted her policies were part of the reason why. Yet she’s about to hand another load of huge subsidy contracts to wind developers without knowing what this will add to your bills. This is grossly negligent.”

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