← All subsidies · The Subsidy Clock
Contracts for Difference are the current scheme for large renewable projects, mainly offshore wind. Since 2014, projects win contracts at auction guaranteeing them a fixed 'strike price' for every unit of electricity for 15 years. When the market price is below the strike price, billpayers pay the difference. When it is above — as in the 2022 gas crisis — generators pay money back. Both directions flow through your bill.
This headline figure covers every renewable generator on a CfD — wind and solar, and the biomass plants such as Drax, which are classed as renewable and count towards the UK's renewable targets. The only CfD generation kept separate is nuclear, which is low-carbon but not renewable — and which has paid nothing yet, as Hinkley Point C is not generating.
The Renewables Obligation paid a subsidy on top of whatever the market price was, which made generators' income — and billpayers' costs — unpredictable. CfDs replaced it with a fixed guaranteed price, set by competitive auction, intended to make large projects cheaper to finance.
since 2016, currently growing at about a year — every second. Spread across Britain's households, that is about per household per year, paid through electricity bills. In years of very high market prices the scheme can briefly run in billpayers' favour; over its life so far it has been a net cost.
Illustrative bill, not your tariff. The Low Carbon Contracts Company collects the levy from suppliers day by day; suppliers price it into the unit rate.
Daily payment data from the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC), the public body that manages the contracts — see the methodology. Totals are nominal £ as paid. Unit rate and standing charge from Ofgem Q3 2026 price cap announcement.