A MULTIMILLION-POUND fine handed to power station operator Drax  is no more than a “drop in the ocean” compared with the billions that the company is demanding in new subsidies, campaigners said today.

Drax, whose plant in North Yorkshire is Britain’s largest carbon emitter, receives government subsidies for burning biomass wood chips, a fuel source that it claims is “carbon neutral.”

But energy watchdog Ofgem fined the firm £25 million after it failed to accurately report the type of wood it uses and whether it is sustainable.