A new report from the House of Lords Economic Committee has found that meeting EU targets for renewable energy will increase electricity generation and transmission costs by £6.8bn a year, or 38% in the UK. This translates into an £80 annual fuel bill increase for the average household. This figure does not include costs associated with other areas of energy use such as transport and heat affected by the EU target.

The press release for the report says that the EU targets "may encourage the UK to adopt an unnecessarily costly and risky approach to reducing carbon emissions". The Committee points out that nuclear energy presents a viable, low-carbon alternative that is not intermittent and can be produced at a significantly lower cost than renewable energy.

Lord Vallance, Chairman of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, said: "We accept that the UK Government, along with others, must take steps to reduce carbon emissions. However we are concerned that the dash to meet the EU's 2020 targets may draw attention and investment away from cheaper and more reliable low carbon electricity generation - such as nuclear and, potentially, fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage."

The Committee also raised deep concerns over the overreliance on unreliable wind power that is likely to come about as a result of the EU targets: "The UK is most likely to adopt wind power as its main means of producing more renewable electricity. This has an inherent weakness in that it cannot be relied upon to generate electricity at the time it is needed. Current policies would take the UK into uncharted territory, with a dependence on intermittent supply unprecedented elsewhere in Europe. To guard against power shortages, wind turbines would need to be backed up with conventional generation. Together with the requirement to replace almost a quarter of the UK's older generating capacity by 2020, this represents a massive investment programme.  Whether it is achievable in the time available is open to doubt."

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