Sizewell C ‘may cost double government estimates and take five years longer to build’
The proposed Sizewell C nuclear power station could cost UK taxpayers more than double government estimates and take an extra five years to build, according to research.
Ministers will decide in July whether to approve the development of the Suffolk power station proposed by the French developer EDF. The business department has estimated the government-backed scheme will add an extra £1 a month to household bills to aid construction costs.
But research by the University of Greenwich Business School seen by the Guardian shows the average monthly cost could reach £2.12, or £25.40 a year. At its costliest point, the build could cost taxpayers nearly £4 a month.
That represents the study’s gloomiest forecast, which predicts construction would take 17 years and cost £43.8bn.
The project had been expected to cost £20bn and take 10-12 years to build. Stephen Thomas, a professor at Greenwich Business School, said the average forecast put the cost at £35bn over 15 years, or £2.3bn a year.
The figures could further inflame the debate over the cost and time of building power stations after Boris Johnson last month set a target of building a new nuclear station every year.
EDF last week admitted that Hinkley Point C, the power station it is developing in Somerset, would cost an extra £3bn taking it to up to £26bn. The already-delayed project will take an extra year, and is expected to begin generating electricity in June 2027. EDF had originally planned for it be operational by Christmas 2017.
The French firm said consumers would not be hit by the extra costs at Hinkley Point C, which will be taken on by EDF and China’s CGN, its junior partner in the project.
However, at Sizewell C the government has already committed £100m to the project
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