Shifting the cost of Net Zero from industry to households is unjust and ineffective

London, 23 February - The UK government is today announcing that it will force British households to pay an additional charge on their energy bills to reduce the costs of Net Zero for some 300 energy intensive industrial users.

Net Zero Watch today condemned this so-called “Households Payment Mechanism” as deeply unfair to consumers, but utterly inadequate as help to industry.

It is reported that the so-called ‘British Industry Supercharger’ will cost each household about £3 to £5 per year, suggesting that the scheme will move about £80m to £130m of green energy costs from industry to households.

This is simultaneously deeply unwelcome for domestic consumers, who are struggling as it is with high energy bills, but trivially weak for businesses.

The measure is not expected to come into force until 2025, when the Office for Budget Responsibility expects levies to support fundamentally uneconomic renewable energy (such as wind and solar energy) to amount to £9 billion per year (and over £10 billion including the Feed-in Tariff for smaller generators).

This huge annual green surcharge is being paid by all energy consumers, with severely negative economic consequences.

The government’s support package for industry is trivial by comparison and seems designed simply to get a few good headlines in response to the bad news of more closures and job cuts in the steel industry.

Dr Benny Peiser, Director of Net Zero Watch said:

As long as the UK continues to prioritise Net Zero over the national interest, energy security and economic competitiveness, Britain will lose the last traces of its industrial base, its prosperity and its global status.”

Dr John Constable, Net Zero Watch's energy editor, said:

The laughably named ‘British Industry Supercharger’ is nasty in principle but pathetically weak in practice. Instead of playing PR games, government needs to tackle the root cause of our energy problems, namely the wind and solar and biomass subsidies that are costing all consumers many billions per year. The green levies must be cut to the bone. We simply can’t afford them.”