GWPF urges government to cancel green levies to help struggling customers

London, 4 October — The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) has warned Boris Johnson that government plans to allow energy companies to delay handing over the green levies they collect from consumers would be a disastrous mistake if government does not also move to relieve electricity consumers of the multi-billion pound green subsidy burden in the long term.

According to reports in the Sunday Telegraph, the government is about to allow energy companies to halt the payments they have to make to renewable electricity generators under the Renewables Obligation. The move is seen as a desperate measure to stem the tide of supplier bankruptcies.

But it is not just suppliers that find the cost of the green levies impossible to manage. The British consumer, who ultimately pays all these costs, is severely burdened, with the total cost of green levies now well over £10 billion a year and still rising.

On top of the direct subsidies, the growing unreliability of renewables increases the cost of stabilising the national grid, which consumers must pay for in Balancing Services (BSUoS) charges, now amounting to nearly £2 billion a year, and showing an alarming rising trend.

Dr John Constable, GWPF’s energy editor, said:

“It is time for the government to recognise that the renewable energy policy has been an all-but unmitigated disaster for the British people, with over-priced emissions savings, destabilised markets and a fragile electricity grid. It’s time to give everyone a break. Mr Kwarteng is worried about suppliers because high-profile bankruptcies are deeply embarrassing to government, but a little compassion for the millions of household consumers struggling in silence would do him more credit."