UK energy department DESNZ has rejected research published by the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank suggesting the cost of the country’s clean energy transition has been “systematically understated”.
The group’s analysis accuses officials at various public bodies of using “misleadingly low figures” in their calculations around net zero policies by “moving the goalposts” of their methodologies and relying on “increasingly unrealistic assumptions”.
Numbers produced by system operator NESO, the Climate Change Committee, the Treasury and the Office for Budget Responsibility are disputed by the think tank, which argues “fantasy assumptions” have been used to arrive at inaccurate costings.
The Institute states the “true cost” of net zero will exceed £7.6tn, a figure pulled from NESO data referring to gross cash costs of the energy transition.
A DESNZ spokesperson said: “We reject this analysis, which assumes there are no costs associated with staying on the fossil fuel rollercoaster.
“NESO has made clear that driving for clean energy saves money by fundamentally reducing our exposure to fossil fuel markets – its report shows we could save £36bn annually if we hit our 2050 goals compared with a scenario in which we slow down.
“The only way to bring down energy bills and deliver energy security is by making Britain a clean energy superpower, which will get us onto clean, homegrown power that we control.”