Power plant owners that were promised £1 billion in subsidies to help keep the lights on this winter could yet receive the cash despite an EU court ruling that halted the payments, the government has said. The government’s “capacity market” scheme, which pays energy companies to guarantee that their power stations are available when needed, was thrown into chaos last month when the European Court of Justice overturned its approval under state aid rules. Payments were suspended, casting doubt on whether the plants could be relied upon as needed and whether companies would receive their promised revenues. The government said yesterday that it was working with the European Commission to get state aid approval reinstated and that if successful payments could be made retrospectively. Claire Perry, the energy minister, said that the government was considering whether the capacity market supplier charge could still be collected and “passed on to agreement holders at the appropriate time”.
Times 7th Dec 2018 read more »