Thursday 16 December 2010

Electricity reform measures now need "big PR job"

Renewable energy supplier Good Energy has welcomed today's Electricity Reform package as "bold and broad" and said "it looks good for renewables".

Chief executive Juliet Davenport told ELN that the measures would "tackle some of the issues that have been put to the side".

But she warned that the government now had "a big PR job" on its hands to ensure the public is aware of the measures, their implications and expected results.

She said plans to set up auctions for renewable contracts would be "a really good thing for big contracts", and also backed a proposed 'contract for difference' Feed-In-Tariff, in which a top-up payment will go to low carbon generators if wholesale prices are low, while the government will claw back money for consumers if prices become higher than the cost of low carbon generation.

However, Davenport was wary of carbon pricing as an "all-fit policy". "How is the price going to be agreed?" she asked. "The devil will be in the detail."

Wiltshire-based Good Energy provides 100% renewable electricity to more than 26,000 homes and businesses in the UK.