nuclear-news

Financing structure for Sizewell C a ‘terrible deal’ – Public Accounts Committee

28 Oct, 2026, By Tom Pashby,
https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/financing-structure-for-sizewell-c-a-terrible-deal-public-accounts-committee-28-10-2026/

Sizewell C, the 3.2GW nuclear power plant under construction on the Suffolk coast, represents “a terrible deal for the UK taxpayer”, Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have said.

In its report, Sizewell C, published today, 28 October, the financing of the £38bn project, which exposes the public to up to £54bn in costs, was heavily criticised.

The first line of the report said: “Sizewell C represents a terrible deal for the UK taxpayer.”

It went on: “Successive governments’ failure to deliver new nuclear has left the UK in a position where the best terms it could secure to deliver Sizewell C mean that consumers and taxpayers shoulder significant financial risks, while private investors enjoy protected profits.

“The UK must never be put in this position again.”

Sizewell C, minority owner EDF, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz) and other proponents of the project have regularly argued that Sizewell C should be delivered more easily because it is copying so much of the design work from its ‘sister project’ Hinkley Point C in Somerset.

The PAC report said: “Desnz argues that applying lessons learned from the UK’s other current major nuclear project, Hinkley Point C, and replicating the design of its pressurised water reactors, will reduce risks at Sizewell C.

“However, no comparable nuclear power station anywhere in the world has been delivered on time and on budget. Projects using the same reactor design have experienced delays of up to 14 years and substantial cost overruns.”

The MPs also took aim at the corporate and financing structure the government had selected for Sizewell C, called the Regulated Asset Base (RAB).

“The Department has chosen a novel delivery model for Sizewell C in which it relinquishes majority control, despite the public providing most of the financing and bearing most of the risk,” the report said

November 1, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, UK