The Government has unveiled its Energy Bill today in a bid to switch the UK to low carbon power. To help pay for the transformation, energy companies will increase the amount they levy consumers from £3 billion to £7.6 billion, increasing household energy bills by just under £100 a year by 2020. The transition to low carbon power will help wean the UK off expensive gas which has been the biggest cause of energy bill hikes in recent years.
Alongside the Energy Bill, the Government also announced that energy-intensive companies may be exempt from the extra costs of switching to low carbon electricity. This comes on top of exemptions for energy intensive companies to carbon taxes which the Government is already consulting on.
Ed Matthew, Director of the Energy Bill Revolution, an alliance campaign calling on the Government to recycle carbon tax to make the homes of the fuel poor super energy efficient, said:
“A low carbon power system that weans us off gas will help break our addiction to expensive fossil fuels. But the Government must not just cushion the energy intensive users from the cost of the transition, they must also cushion the must vulnerable energy consumers, the fuel poor. The best way to do that is to invest carbon tax revenue in energy efficiency measures. There is enough carbon tax to super insulate all fuel poor households and in time treat every UK home. This is the best solution to slash energy bills but there is no mention of it today. It is the black hole in the Energy Bill announcement.”
The Energy Bill Revolution is an alliance of over 100 major charities, businesses, consumer groups and unions. The Government will collect over £2 billion in carbon tax in 2013, rising to £4 billion by 2020. This is enough revenue to super-insulate over half a million homes year. Recent research commissioned for the campaign has found that this investment would also do more to create growth and jobs than any comparable Government spending programme or tax break.
For more information go to: www.energybillrevolution.org
Or Contact Ed Matthew, Director of the Energy Bill Revolution on 07827 157906
Back