Green levies and the cost of living crisis

The government’s attempt to address the current energy crisis with a loan to energy companies worth £200 to each UK household is wholly inadequate to address the problem of the energy cost crisis since the expected bill increases this year alone are in the region of £700 per household.

Transferring the green levies from energy bills to taxation with a view to rapid cancellation would be a much more effective and proportionate response.

Net Zero Watch is today releasing a simple, referenced, fact sheet on the cost of the green levies to indicate the scale of the help that could be offered to households.

Apologists for the heavily subsidised renewables industry are routinely misrepresenting the cost of these subsidies, by focusing only on the household electricity bill and understating the savings possible.

In fact, the green levies also hit households through cost of living as industrial, commercial consumers pass on their share of the green levies in higher prices, and public sector costs increase taxes.

OBR data shows that environmental levies (green levies) now cost the UK economy about £11 billion a year in total, putting £150 a year on the average household electricity bill, and a further £250 per household on the annual cost of living, a total of £400 per household per year. The levies also depress wages and rates of employment.

There is no upside to the green levies. They increase UK household energy bills, they increase the cost of living in the UK, they depress wages and rates of employment, and the benefitting industries of wind and solar are predominantly overseas. It’s time the green levies were scrapped.

Cost of Green Levies

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