Christopher Pincher Calls for the Removal of Green Levies to Cut Energy Bills

Tamworth’s MP, Christopher Pincher, Member of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, has called for a cut in green taxes and measures to increase competition within the energy market to help reduce energy bills.

Mr Pincher scrutinised the “Big Six” Energy Companies this week in a high profile session to establish the reasons and justification behind recent energy price rises.

During the session Mr Pincher pushed the “Big Six” to confirm that if green levies, used to subsidise renewable energy generation are lifted, then consumers’ bills will be directly reduced.

Mr Pincher said, “Renewable levies add £112 each year to the average annual bill, placing further burdens on hard pressed households struggling to pay bills and on businesses fighting for a competitive edge in the international marketplace.

“Chief Executives unanimously confirmed to me that these levies can be quickly removed to keep energy bills down for hardworking families.

“Unlike the Labour Party Conservatives in Government are offering a real solution of a cut in those taxes that add to your bill and more competition to keep bills lower. And are legislating to force energy companies to put people on their lowest tariff.”

Conservatives say Ed Miliband’s promised price freeze is a political con that will simply result in increased prices for consumers as suppliers increase their prices before the freeze and damage investment in our energy infrastructure. If Labour freezes energy prices, but costs go up beyond the companies’ income, they will have to be bailed out at the public expense and at a massive cost to our energy security.

Finally, freezing energy prices hits the smaller independent players more than the big 6 generators whose fixed costs can be more easily absorbed by their scale and vertical integration.

This view was echoed by Tony Cocker, Chief Executive of Power Company EON during the Select Committee hearing.

Mr Pincher suggested that a better way of helping those people living in the poorest condition housing and suffering big bills is to insulate their homes through schemes paid out of general taxation rather than through levies on people’s bills.