British Gas to take multibillion-pound stake in Miliband's nuclear power plant
British Gas is poised to take a multibillion-pound bet on a nuclear power plant backed by Ed Miliband.
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is preparing to announce a 15pc stake in Sizewell C in the coming weeks, handing a boost to the project after months of prolonged funding talks.
The planned investment will hand Centrica the same-sized stake in Sizewell C as French state-owned energy group EDF.
It comes after the Energy Secretary confirmed plans earlier this month to invest £14bn into the power plant by 2029, increasing the Government's total investment in the project to £17bn.
He is pumping in taxpayer cash as part of a planned nuclear power renaissance in Britain, with Sizewell C set to generate enough electricity for 6m homes.
At the time, he said the investment was 'the right choice for bills, the right choice for jobs and the right choice for growth'.
Centrica's planned stake, first reported by the Financial Times, signals a shift in investor interest in Sizewell C, as many large funds have previously been put off by years of delays and cost overruns.
Sizewell C cost reaches £40bn
EDF had initially been planning to open the plant in 2020, but it is now not expected to begin operations until after 2030.
Earlier this month, it also emerged that the cost of Sizewell C had more than doubled to £40bn, up from previous estimates of £20bn.
The Government has refused to comment on the cost of Sizewell C, although officials have attempted to play down the scale of the cost increase.
It has defended the investment in the project by claiming the Government is 'filling the gap with a new nuclear programme which will see greater efficiencies and learnings carried across projects'.
A spokesman said: 'Sizewell C will be an almost exact replica of Hinkley Point C – but crucially learning from previous mistakes and replication.
'EDF says that the second unit of Hinkley is getting built at a rate 25pc quicker than the first, and Sizewell C is effectively a third and fourth version of this reactor.'
As well as Centrica and EDF, funds such as Amber Infrastructure Partners, Brookfield Asset Management and the Canadian pension fund CDPQ are exploring potential investments.
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