MORE than eight per cent of all the electricity generated in this country is lost in transmission from power station to the end user.

More than 26% of this loss is down to domestic use.

If all domestic electricity was generated using solar power we could save over 1.35 million tonnes of oil at a minimum saving of more than £387 million.

The individual cost to each household would be about £12,500 for both solar panels and batteries.

This would take some 25 years to recover the investment and is not considered viable for individuals.

The government appears to be more than ready to subsidise the transmission losses by paying large subsidies to the power companies.

It seems equally unwilling to actually save oil and money by subsidising household investment in solar power.

You can draw your own conclusions about this policy, but it means that we, as taxpayers and consumers will pick up the bill in the end.

J McGowan

Christchurch