Windfarm operators are sharing payouts of nearly £125,000 a day – for turning off their turbines.
New details from the National Grid show “constraint fees” given to mast owners have added £26.6million to energy bills since April alone.
Some windfarm operators can earn up to £700 an hour for shutting down when it gets too windy and the nation’s electricity grid gets overloaded.
Last night, campaigners battling to stop the march of the turbines – which have been erected in huge numbers across the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire – said the payments were “shocking” and called for a moratorium on new developments.
Demand for electricity is much higher at some times of day than others – normally peaking between 5pm and 7pm during the week as people arrive home from work and make dinner while putting the washing on. The rest of the time, demand is much lower.
But as electricity cannot be stored, the National Grid has to request generators to step up or decrease the amount they produce to balance supply and demand.
It gives generators compensation – known as “constraint payments” – when they have to reduce their output.
Between April and October this year, those payments topped £26.6million.
That amounts to £124,590 a day. The average just three years ago was £547 a day.
Linda Holt – who leads the Scotland Against Spin Group – said the payments were the most damaging evidence yet of the money being “thrown at green energy”.
“These are the most shocking figures to date and they show how we are picking up the bill for these scandalous payments,” she said.
“The system needs reformed – there should be no more turbines built until we get this system sorted out.
“And this is only going to get worse. For every turbine we have, there is another one with consent ready to be built. And then there is the same again in the planning system.”
She added: “The government is worried about benefits scroungers, but the real scroungers are the windfarm operators who get paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for not working.”
Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, defended the payments.
He said: “Almost every kind of electricity generator, including coal and gas, are constrained off the grid because National Grid cannot meet its contractual commitment to take power from that generator.
“According to these latest figures, constraint payments so far have totalled £183.9million with wind accounting for just 14% of this at £26.6million.”
A spokeswoman for the National Grid said the payments were essential to maintain a balanced electricity system.
“National Grid balances the country’s demand and supply of electricity minute by minute, and it also transports electricity from where it is generated to where it is needed,” she said.
“As part of its role, it can ask generators to come on or off the grid to manage constraints and keep the system balanced.
“National Grid has a number of tools at its disposal to do that, including making constraint payments to generators through the Balancing Mechanism, and it is incentivised to keep balancing costs down.
“The number and relative value of constraint payments made to windfarms is small compared to overall constraint payments made to generators of all types.”
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