The Tyne and Wear Metro’s electricity costs look set to spiral almost £10m over budget.
Transport bosses have called on the Government to offer more emergency support for the Metro, following Liz Truss’ long-awaited announcement of a household bills freeze, to prevent trains being cancelled over the coming months. The Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed in July that Metro operator Nexus was predicting that the electric-powered system’s high voltage power bills would come in a £4m higher than forecast.
But, as the global energy crisis deepens, the situation has deteriorated further. Nexus finance chiefs now predict a £9.5m shortfall and say they are “making the point” to the Government that help will be needed. Director of finance and resources at Nexus, John Fenwick, told councillors on Thursday that the organisation had budgeted for £8.4m to be spent on high voltage power in 2022/23, but that the predicted bill had more than doubled to £17.9m – and warned there might be worse to come.
Read More: Tyne and Wear Metro tickets could be capped at £2 to help passengers through cost of living crisis
He told a North East Joint Transport Committee meeting: “However, the signs we are looking at now suggest that the outturn could be in excess of the £17.9m. We are looking at that on a daily basis and monitoring it very carefully.”
Carl Johnson, the deputy mayor of North Tyneside, said the Government “need to fund and support it [the Metro] in the right way” to keep ensure trains can keep running during the cost of living crisis. He added: “If the high voltage power bill is at such a level that Nexus cannot meet its budget, then we cannot run a Metro service. It is a critical risk to the region.”
Mr Fenwick said that a £7.3m grant from the Government announced in March had helped the Metro “absorb” some of the shock of the escalating bills, but that talks were ongoing over the need for more support. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The latest forecast suggests that our high voltage power bill will be more than double what we had originally budgeted.
"We have received some additional funding from the Department for Transport this year that is helping mitigate this pressure and ensure the Metro timetable is not adversely affected. We will continue to work with Government officials to make the case for further support.”
Metro passengers have already been hit with a rise in ticket prices of up to 9.5% this year in a bid to stave off cuts to frontline services, as public transport systems across the country face a continuing cash crisis, while local councils reluctantly agreed to up their funding to Nexus to help plug a £21m black hole in its budget earlier this year. It also emerged at Thursday’s meeting that the cost of a single Metro ticket could be capped at £2 to make travel more affordable for passengers this winter.
Read More:
- Councillors stage walkout after Newcastle Labour politician suspended over Islamophobia spotted at meeting
- Veteran Newcastle East MP Nick Brown suspended by Labour Party pending complaint investigation
- Staff shortages and 'unexpected' utility works blamed as Heaton cycle lane extension delayed
- Multi-billion pound North East devolution deal close to being sealed – as Durham is given ultimatum
