Sizewell C bill risks rising to £48bn, Labour admits
Technical documents released after yesterday's final approval reveal that Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is allowing £48bn to be spent on the project in Suffolk, far more than the £38bn total that was officially advertised.
The cost of the power plant has already doubled from about £16bn in 2016. In 2020, EDF and the Government said Sizewell C would cost about £20bn. Both denied media reports earlier this year that costs had risen to nearly £40bn.
Campaigners against Sizewell C have long warned of the danger of escalating costs, pointing to the surging price of Hinkley C nuclear power station, an almost identical project that is already under construction in Somerset.
It was costed at £9bn when first proposed in 2011, but EDF – the French state-owned energy giant which is building it – now says the final cost will be close to £50bn when it starts operation several years late around 2031.
When Mr Miliband announced approval for Sizewell C yesterday he confirmed that the project was now costed at £38bn in 2024 prices, or £39.3bn once inflation since then is factored in.
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