Energy bills to rise £30/year by 2020 to ward off winter blackouts, MPs warn

Energy customers may have to fork out £30 more a year on their bills by 2020 to prevent winter blackouts sweeping the country, a group of MPs has warned.

In a report, titled 'Electric Shock: Will the Christmas Lights Go Out Next Winter?', the cross-party British Infrastructure Group (BIG) warned of an imminent power crisis, caused by Government targets for closing coal power stations and expanding renewable sources to hit climate change goals.

The BIG says the UK's reduced generating output has allowed prices to soar. It adds that slashed capacity margins – the average amount of extra electricity available compared with peak winter demand – are "so tight that National Grid's emergency power deals have become the norm".

Grant Shapps MP, who chairs the BIG, says the report focuses on the "dangerously small electricity capacity margins" that have been "left in the wake of a decade of target-led, interventionist energy policy".

He adds: "While nobody questions the noble intentions behind these interventions, it is clear that a perfect coincidence of numerous policies designed to reduce Britain's carbon dioxide emissions has had the unintended effect of hollowing out the reliability of the electricity generating sector".