Labour set to heap more woe on householders despite pledge to lower the cost of electricity
Ed Miliband pledged that Labour’s clean power plan would reduce bills by ‘up to £300’ (Image: Getty)
Ed Miliband’s clean power plan will add more than £150 to annual electricity bills by 2030, an analysis has suggested. Consumers will be paying £264 more a year in green levies by the end of this decade on their home electricity bill to decarbonise the grid than they do at the moment, independent energy analyst Ben James said.
He added: “The single most important objective for consumers and for decarbonisation is making electricity cheap,” he said. “Only 10% of UK emissions come from electricity production. We will not eliminate the remaining 90% – which comes primarily from heating and transport – without cheap electricity.”
The additional charges more than offset an expected £100 reduction in the cost of wholesale electricity as a result of cheaper green power coming on to the grid, leading to an overall increase in average bills of £159 – or 16%.
The analysis, first reported by The Times, suggested that even if Rachel Reeves uses the Budget to cut energy bills, most consumers will not pay any less over the longer term.
Among the charges is £18 a year that every household will pay to construct the new Sizewell C nuclear power station by 2030, even though it will not start generating electricity before the end of the following decade.
Homes will also pay £91 a year by 2030 to switch off power from renewable energy sources because the power grid will not yet have the capacity to send it where it needs to go.
Mr Miliband pledged before the General Election that Labour’s clean power plan would reduce bills by “up to £300”.
The Government said that the analysis overestimated the future costs of decarbonising the grid and “ignored the benefits of clean energy”.
A spokesman added: “Energy bills are still too high, which is why the Government is taking urgent action to support families this winter, including expanding the £150 warm home discount to 2.7million more households.
“The only way to bring down energy bills for good is by making Britain a clean energy superpower, which will get us off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel prices and onto clean, homegrown power that we control.”
