Household energy bills in the U.K. are set to fall after ministers unveiled plans to slash billions of pounds of subsidies to wind farm and solar energy firms every year — paid for by families and manufacturers, adding around £110 a year to a household’s average bill.
Via the UK’s Daily Mail:
Household energy bills are set to fall after ministers unveiled plans to slash green subsidies, it emerged yesterday.
Billions of pounds are handed out by the Government to wind farm and solar energy firms every year, with families and manufacturers picking up the cost.
These climate change subsidies add around £110 a year to a household’s average bill.
Theresa May’s industrial strategy, published yesterday, suggested that these levies should be dramatically reduced to help steel plants, which pay for emissions, compete overseas.
This help for industry would have the knock-on effect of bringing down household bills, Government sources said.The move will be seen as another example of the Prime Minister rowing back on David Cameron’s green legacy. Even he got tired of the environmental agenda after a while, telling his ministers in private to ‘get rid of the green crap’.
The document detailing the new industrial strategy said that while subsidies had originally been needed to ensure green energy firms could make a profit, that is now no longer the case.
‘The transition to low-carbon – and the securing of our energy supplies – must be done in a way which minimises the cost to business and domestic consumers,’ it said.
‘Subsidies and other forms of state support have played an important role in creating markets for new technologies and driving down their costs.