Letters

Weathering Change

Had Stuart Campbell watched a recent interview with energy secretary Ed Miliband on the BBC he would have noted the pie-chart on the breakdown of the five components of the cost of a unit of electricity.

The chart indicates that the strike price (generation price) is only around one-third of the total cost. That means zonal pricing is a red herring regarding the cost of electricity as it does not include VAT, network costs, Green Levy charges or the service costs (wages, National Insurance, rates etc ).

Mr Campbell failed to point out that a unit of gas is around 6.3p compared to 25.6p for electricity. How can anyone claim wind output is the cheapest form of energy?

Note, also, that wind supporters never mention the dunkelflaute weather conditions that hit Scotland at the beginning of October. Just to clarify to readers, at that time 50 per cent of electricity needed by Scottish consumers was generated by the 1GW power plant at Torness, 40 per cent from Peterhead and the wind generators provided less than 10 per cent of demand.

Why does the SNP fail to include the back-up costs required to keep the lights on when the wind fails to blow in the cost of a unit of renewable energy or outline the impact on zonal pricing in the North of Scotland when electricity has to be imported from gas turbine units in the south of England?

Surely it is time for the media to have a review as to why a unit of electricity is double that in France, as neither Holyrood nor Ofgem seem willing to provide consumers with an explanation!

Ian Moir Castle Douglas, Dumfries &

Galloway

Blind Failure

Having read the letter from

Stuart Campbell (24 October), I find it impossible to agree that control of our energy should be in the hands of the Holyrood/nationalist administration.

The SNP have made a rather less than resounding success of everything else for which they have responsibility. Health, the law, housing, education, transport – you name it, they have royally messed up everything. Doubtless, the usual suspects and apologists will rush to defend the indefensible – there are none so blind… Pauline Carruthers Edinburgh

Seabed Shock

The snp/greens sale of enough seabed to enable production of 30 Gigawatts (GW) of electricity for £775 million – £25m per GW, was executed via Crown Estates Scotland, which was devolved as part of the 2014 indyref “Vow”.

By stupendous, alarming, contrast Crown Estates England

and Wales are likely to get £8bn for 8GW of leasing – £1,000m per GW, 40 times what Scotland got.

If this is what nationalists mean by “limitless energy wealth” and “ability to make our own decisions” then, as former Dragon’s Den investor Duncan Bannantyne would say, “ah’m oot”.

Allan Sutherland Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire