Still Stuck in the 90s

Miliband’s clean-power dream and the looming AR7 subsidy round, will push bills up and reliability down.

The truth is finally catching up with the green illusion. Even the Government has quietly admitted that wind generation will deliver far less power than promised. Yet Ed Miliband, still living in the 1990s era of subsidy economics, is preparing to pour billions more into failing renewables through Allocation Round 7 (AR7), the next Contracts for Difference auction.

It’s the same story all over again: more ideology, more public money, and no accountability. While consumers struggle with record standing charges and volatile bills, Miliband’s department is preparing to underwrite another generation of uneconomic wind and solar projects that Britain neither needs nor can afford.

1. The Reality Behind the Rhetoric

Wind generation has repeatedly fallen short of expectations. Recent government revisions show a steep downgrade in forecast output for both onshore and offshore wind ,confirming what engineers have warned for years: intermittent generation cannot deliver reliable baseload power.

Yet instead of facing facts, AR7 aims to prop up failing projects with higher subsidies. Officials have already hinted at “improved strike prices” to attract developers scared off by rising costs, meaning consumers will once again pick up the tab through levies and standing charges.

2. When Subsidies Replace Markets

The Contracts for Difference system was meant to deliver competition. Instead, it’s become a safety net for uneconomic renewables.
In AR6, offshore wind developers boycotted the auction because the strike prices were too low to guarantee profit. Miliband’s answer for AR7? Raise the prices, relax the caps, and call it “progress”.

This means British households will now pay more per megawatt-hour for intermittent energy than for dispatchable gas or nuclear. In other words: we’re subsidising weakness and calling it strength.

3. A Hidden Tax on Every Bill

The CfD mechanism doesn’t appear as a line on your bill, but make no mistake, you’re paying for it. Each new allocation round adds to the total levy recovered through the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC), which now runs into the tens of billions.

Every megawatt subsidised under AR7 is a long-term contract ,up to 15 years, guaranteeing developers a fixed income indexed to inflation. That means even if the market collapses or power isn’t needed, consumers remain locked into paying for it.

And with National Grid warning of major curtailment and constraint costs already topping £1.5 billion a year, the waste will only grow.

4. Chasing Targets, Not Power

Miliband’s obsession with his “95% clean power by 2030” slogan is driving AR7, not energy security, not affordability, and certainly not realism.
The UK grid is already overloaded, with connection delays stretching to 2037 in some regions. Yet new AR7 projects are being waved through as if capacity magically exists.

The result will be more “zombie projects” renewable schemes that win subsidies but can’t connect for over a decade, leaving consumers paying for capacity that doesn’t yet exist.

5. Lessons Unlearned

The offshore wind crisis of 2023–24 should have ended the myth of cheap renewables. Costs ballooned, projects collapsed, and the supposed “green jobs” vanished offshore.
But Miliband’s department has learned nothing. AR7 repeats the same 1990s logic: throw public money at private developers, declare a green victory, and ignore the engineering.

The difference today is that the grid is full, the storage doesn’t exist, and consumers are already at breaking point.

6. A Better Path Forward

Britain doesn’t need another round of subsidies, it needs a reset.
Instead of funding intermittent imports, we should:

Back domestic SMR production through Rolls-Royce.

Invest in grid reinforcement before new generation.

Support rooftop solar film like Power Roll, which doesn’t consume farmland or overload substations.

End the subsidy treadmill that keeps prices high and accountability low.


Only then can we rebuild a self-reliant, affordable energy system that serves people, not ideology.

Conclusion

Ed Miliband’s fixation with the 1990s dream of subsidised renewables is driving Britain straight into another energy crisis.
AR7 will not deliver power, it will deliver profit for developers, pain for consumers, and paralysis for the grid.

It’s time to end the experiment.
Britain doesn’t need more contracts, it needs control.

Author: Shane Oxer  Campaigner for fairer and affordable energy