Overview

• Greenpeace accuses the Crown Estate of monopoly profiteering by allowing uncapped option fees for seabed rights, which it says inflate project costs and consumer bills.
• The Crown Estate rejects the claims, stating developers set fees in open, competitive auctions, its legal duties are being misread, and net revenues return to the Treasury.
• The dispute follows a 2021 shift to competitive sealed bidding that drove option fees sharply higher, while Crown Estate Scotland imposed caps on similar fees.
• The Crown Estate reported about £1.1 billion in profit in the year to March, and Greenpeace highlights a forecast rise in the Sovereign Grant to £132.1 million in 2025–26.
• Greenpeace issued a legal warning after extensive correspondence and urges the chancellor to order an independent review, also warning of ‘double charging’ due to grid constraints that can force wind curtailment.