The renewables industry can breathe something of a sigh of relief as Chancellor George Osborne’s summer budget included no full-scale review of the Levy Control Framework (LCF), but did remove an exemption for renewables from the Climate Change Levy.
Delivering his budget this afternoon, Osborne said the government would “continue to promote the low carbon investment and innovation” required to combat climate change and that it would focus on “the best value for money policies”.
However there was no explicit mention of a review of the LCF and in turn renewable energy subsidies despite rumours in the national press this morning indicating they could fall on Osborne’s chopping board.
The LCF budget is rumoured to have run away under coalition rule and forecasts from market intelligence firm Cornwall Energy and the Telegraph suggesting it could record an overspend of between £1.5 billion and £2 billion by 2020.
Such an announcement would’ve appeared at odds with the government’s commitment to sending a strong message during November’s COP21 summit in Paris, where Osborne today said the government would push for a global climate deal to limit global warming at 2 degrees.
Osborne also confirmed that the government is to publish proposals to extend competitive tendering for onshore electricity transmission targets, which are expected to save consumers circa £390 million over the course of 10 years, while he also welcomed the findings of this week’s Competition and Markets Authority investigation into the energy sector.
But it was not all good news for the renewables sector. The budget sets out that the government “believes in making the most of the UK’s oil and gas resources” and confirms it will continue to support fracking, and investment into the North Sea gas and oil industry will continue – as set out in the March budget – for a sixth consecutive year.
The removal of renewable energy’s exemption from the Climate Change Levy was also revealed, with the government stating that the decision was to “correct an imbalance in the tax system” and “helping ensure support for low carbon generation provides better value for money for UK taxpayers”.