Households could pay £800m more for energy this winter because of onshore wind farm ban

A decision in 2016 saw ban on construction of onshore wind farms in most parts of England

Government polices that halted the roll-out of onshore wind power could be adding close to a billion pounds to energy bills this winter, new analysis suggests.

Without a 2016 decision to effectively ban the construction of onshore wind in most parts of England, developers could have built enough turbines to generate around 2.5 terawatt hours of energy - enough to power 1.5 million homes through the winter, it is claimed.

This would also have reduced the need to use gas power plants, saving 4.9 terawatt hours of gas which could be used to heat more than half a million homes, research from the Energy and Climate Change Intelligence Unit (ECIU) suggests.