Labour’s green energy subsidies are costing British households a total of £12 billion a year, it has been revealed.
This equates to an average extra cost of £450 per household each year.
While this is most visible on an average £150 increase on energy bills, the remaining two-thirds comes from increased prices on the high street as businesses pass on their higher costs to consumers.
The breakdown of these green levies includes £2.3billion a year for Contracts for Difference (CfD) subsidies paid out to stabilise renewable energy prices, £7.8bn a year for Renewables Obligation (RO) – an incentive scheme to encourage energy companies to go green, and £1.86 a year billion for small-scale renewable subsidies under the Feed-in Tariff scheme.
While this is most visible on an average £150 increase on energy bills, the remaining two-thirds comes from increased prices on the high street as businesses pass on their higher costs to consumers
PA
And official estimates show these costs are set to rise to £14.8bn a year by 2030, further squeezing household budgets and raising the cost of living for millions.
The green subsidies are given as part of the Labour party’s mission to create a “zero-carbon” electricity system which it says will “lower energy bills for good”, and ensure the country is “never again” left vulnerable to dictators like Russian leader Vladimir Putin for its power supplies.
However the official figures, drawn from the government’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which analyses public finances, and government energy regulator Ofgem, and analysed by experts for GB News, are fuelling growing concerns about the soaring cost of the UK’s green energy transition as Energy Secretary Ed Miliband pushes forward with an unprecedented expansion of wind and solar farms across the country.
Dr John Constable, director of the UK charity Renewable Energy Foundation, which publishes data on the sector, said: “Renewables are intrinsically expensive, due to their physics, and are not viable without subsidy.
“Why Ed Miliband believes that wind and solar will reduce bills is one of the great mysteries of nature.
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Energy Secretary Ed Miliband pushes forward with an unprecedented expansion of wind and solar farms across the country
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“Both theory and the government’s own data on current and expected subsidy costs gives the lie to such claims.”
Andrew Montford, Director of Net Zero Watch, which scrutinises the government’s transition to renewable energy sources, said: “The UK is broke, but we are still having to fork out £12bn a year just to maintain Ed Miliband’s fantasy of an energy transition.
“We need energy policies based on facts rather than green fairy tales.”
The figures follow a previous GB News exclusive which revealed that renewable subsidies and Net Zero policies are the biggest factors behind rising electricity bills, rather than global gas prices.
Economist Professor Gordon Hughes warned that these costs will only increase as the government pushes ahead with its Clean Power 2030 plan, while British households already pay far more for energy than other major economies.
The green subsidies are given as part of the Labour party’s mission to create a “zero-carbon” electricity system
PA
A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero said: “In the coming years, Britain faces a clear choice about how we power our country.
“We can seize the opportunities of clean energy to protect ourselves from unstable global markets.
“Or we can continue to leave households and businesses exposed to volatile fossil fuels – with the British people picking up the tab.
“Levies drive investment in renewables and other generation technologies, which will secure greater energy independence and protect billpayers from future energy shocks.“
And as shown by National Energy System Operator’s independent report, clean power by 2030 is achievable and will deliver a more secure energy system, which could see a lower cost of electricity and lower bills.”