Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project attacked by Citizens Advice charity over pricing
Consumer charity Citizens Advice has slammed the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon as being “appalling value for money” and said the process of negotiations around the project’s contracts was “inherently opaque”.
The group made the statements in its response to the Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc) consultation on construction of the lagoon, which is to be supported by contract for difference arrangements for low carbon generation.
According to Citizens Advice, the process being used to assess Swansea Bay has “significant weaknesses”.
The organisation stated: “Given the huge cost and lack of countervailing benefits of the project, the outcome of the process should be to reject the application unless there is significant change from the prices and benefits currently in the public domain.”
The project is currently being considered by the Planning Inspectorate, which is set to deliver a decision on whether or not to recommend it for approval on 10 March.
In October last year Prudential’s investment arm, M&G, was named as the cornerstone investor in the project, which is expected to cost around £1bn.
Decc declined to comment yesterday.