February 11, 2026
Wind wins, bills still whine
Q&A: New UK onshore wind and solar is '50% cheaper' than new gas
Cheaper power wins big, but commenters say gas still drives your bill
TLDR: UK locked in record cheap wind and solar, priced well below new gas. Commenters argue bills won’t fall because electricity prices track gas and fees dominate costs, turning the debate from turbines to market rules—and why “cheap” power doesn’t feel cheap at home.
The UK just snagged a record 7.4GW of new onshore wind, solar and a dash of tidal in its latest auction, with solar at £65/MWh and wind at £72/MWh. Add January’s offshore win and AR7 hits a monster 14.7GW—big enough to cut gas demand by 95TWh and slash LNG imports. Energy secretary Ed Miliband shouted that clean power is “50% cheaper than new gas.” Sounds like victory, right? The comments say: hold my kettle.
Redditors and energy nerds went full courtroom drama over that “50% cheaper” line. The top clapback: UK electricity prices are largely set by gas, so cheaper renewables don’t magically shrink bills. One user even dropped a primer explaining why the market pegs power prices to gas. Another argued gas wins on “switch-on-now” reliability, claiming Contracts for Difference (the government’s price-guarantee scheme) lock in high prices for years. Meanwhile, the meme of the day: “Now add storage costs,” repeated like a drumbeat anytime wind and solar were praised. A numbers nerd broke it down: generation is only a slice of your bill, with standing charges, levies and CfDs making the total balloon—cue the joke that “cheaper power” is like a sale where the checkout adds fees. Fans cheered cleaner, cheaper bids; skeptics yelled “fix the market first.” Drama: renewable record vs the gas-shaped price tag.
Key Points
- •AR7a secured 7.4GW of new UK renewable capacity across solar, onshore wind, and tidal.
- •Solar projects (157) were awarded at £65/MWh and onshore wind projects (28) at £72/MWh.
- •Four tidal energy projects totaling 21MW also received CfD contracts.
- •Combined with 8.4GW of offshore wind from January 2026, AR7 totals 14.7GW, 50% larger than AR6 (2024).
- •Carbon Brief estimates AR7 will cut UK gas demand by ~95TWh/year, reducing LNG imports by three-quarters.