Net Zero Watch has called on the Prime Minister and Chancellor to follow the example of the German government which is preparing to scrap green levies on energy bills.
Germany’s coalition government, which includes the Green Party, had planned to abolish the renewable energy surcharge on electricity bills from 1 January 2023, but due to the energy crisis is considering cutting the green levies earlier to ease the strain of rising energy costs on households.
According to news reports, the German Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck (Green Party) is supporting the early end of green levies on energy bills.
Direct subsidies for UK renewable energy investors – via the Renewables Obligation, the Feed-in Tariff, and the Contracts for Difference systems – run to £10 billion a year, but there is a further £2 billion from the high system costs renewables bring to the grid.
Net Zero Watch has repeatedly called on ministers to remove these renewable energy subsidies from energy bills to help reduce the mounting pressure on the general cost of living.
Cutting green levies from energy bills will also allow the Treasury, in the medium-term, to buy back these subsidy entitlements at a discount, and eventually cease to provide green energy subsidies in any form. Taxpayers cannot be expected to carry this burden in the long term.
Dr. Benny Peiser, Net Zero Watch director, said:
“Boris and Rishi should, for once, follow the German example where even the ruling Green Party is in favor of scrapping green levies to ease the rising cost burden for ordinary families. If Boris Johnson’s government can’t manage what even the Green Party in Germany is willing to do, what’s the purpose of the Conservatives?”
Net Zero Watch has published a simple guide on many additional options available to the government to effectively solve the energy bills crisis in the short and medium-term.
With mounting concern about the true cost of the Government’s Net Zero project, the Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) has published a realistic alternative that reduces CO2 emissions without inflicting astronomical costs on consumers.
John Constable & Capell Aris: A workable alternative to Net-Zero. A plan for cleaner, reliable and affordable energy (pdf)
