Almost a third of electricity generated from renewable sources in the UK is wasted, according to two power technology providers.

IQE and XP Power claim 7,600 GWh of electricity is lost every year during the process of converting power from the mains supply to electronic devices.

Drew Nelson, CEO of IQE is calling on the Government to focus on energy efficiency rather than costly new energy generation projects.

He said: “The country’s lack of energy efficiency to me, it’s completely bonkers. It has a massive impact on the UK’s national power strategy.

“Instead of worrying about costly forms of energy generation, we should be focusing on energy efficiency. We’re pouring money down the drain here,” he told a daily newspaper.

The UK produced 26,000 GWh of renewable energy last year according to DECC and has a target of generating 15% of energy from renewables by 2020.