Will the Minister exempt small hydropower schemes from the abstraction and impoundment licence fee charged by Natural Resources Wales?
Answered by Minister for Climate Change | Answered on 21/03/2023
As Natural Resources Wales (NRW) outlined in its Consultation on Regulatory Fees and Charges for 2023/24, its review of delivery costs for permitting services demonstrates under-recovery across most regimes, with its regulatory fees and charges failing to recover the full costs of determining permit applications.
Hydroelectric power schemes require a bespoke licence and NRW must recover the cost of determining these licences.