A committee of MPs has said in a report released today that the planned reforms to the energy market are hiding subsidies for nuclear power

The coalition government’s planned reforms of the energy industry are hiding subsidies for nuclear power, says the Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECCC).

The committee claims these covert subsidies are betraying the previous promise that a new generation of nuclear plants would not be publicly funded.

The government plans prefer a scheme that encourages all low carbon generation. The ECCC says this could disproportionally favour nuclear power and disadvantage renewable technologies such as wind and solar power if the incentives are not tailored for each individual sector.

The ECCC has branded the energy market reform as “deeply irresponsible”.

“Ministers believe that new nuclear could play a key role in keep the lights on and meeting our climate change targets – but they don’t want to own up to supporting it,” Committee chair Tim Yeo said.

“The Government must be up front about the support it is giving to nuclear and not hide subsidies in a one-size-fits-all design for long-term energy contracts,” he said.

The government is expected to announce a commitment to a long term legally-binding carbon reduction plan in an attempt to justify their “greenest government ever” claims later this week.