UK consumers fleeced HINKLEY Its the WORST deal I have ever seen says expert!

Mr Cameron French President Allonde and EDF Energy (Électricité de France) are completing a deal which if it continues in its present form will see the cost UK consumers pay triple for electricity and remain that way for the next third of a century or 35 years.

 This happened because a desperate UK coalition government fearing the lights were about to fail due to the decrepit state of our national power generation capability were over a barrel and the French firm EDF milked the situation.

They negotiated and got what was known in the trade a strike price" – in other words the price consumers pay EDF. This was set at £96-£97 per megawatt-hour. The current generating price is £30/MWh. So why must consumers pay through the nose for a plant they are subsidising to the tune of £17billion ? EDF are guaranteed this extortionate premium for the next 35 years plus if wholesale prices fall below this the taxpayer is contracted to pay EDF the difference.

Mr Dominic Whitthome of Mainline Energy Consultants stated: "The subsidies just look staggering. The government just didn't know what they were doing, it's the worst deal I have ever seen."

The ancient French technology the "European Pressurised Reactor", (EPR) was a recycled 1960s vintage. New more efficient nuclear options are being installed around the world, but these arn’t what our coalition invested in.  

We are buying obselete French technology from a French provider and French developer.  The excuse offered as to why they opted for an obselete French reactor was made that Britain did not posess the engineers or expertise to build our own nuclear plants.

The truth as with most things this government tells us is that we very much do have that expertise and engineering knowhow coming out of our ears. Maybe not gained in this country for many years, but still there.One expert explains that he had worked on Seal Sands (Hartlepool) in the early 1970s, and many ofhis colleagues went on to other nuclear plants. He worked worked extensively abroad on both coal-fired and gas-fired plants, as well as hospitals, petrochem plants and other works, before returning to the UK four years ago.

At that time the government were discussing Wylfa Newydd, Sizewell C and Hinckley Point. All are needed to go forward in the 21st century with adequate energy reserves. And we have the companies to take us forward, in partnerships and using far more advanced licenced designs from all over the world than the outdated French offering. Only the governments cumbersome bidding processes and lack of skilled properly trained negotiators held us back.

Experience of the only other two 60s reincarnations of the same type of EPRs being built, at Flamanville, in France, and Olkiluoto, in Finland, show both are late and well over budget.

UK power consumers are therefore buying and paying through the nose for outdated French technology

Hinkley Point branded potentially risky for EDF by French auditor