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gmb45
19th June, 2009, 05:59 AM
EVERY British household faces a tax to cover Labour?s ambitious plans to produce cleaner energy.

Ministers want to cut pollution from coal-fired power stations ? and will slap a levy on electricity firms to pay for it.

But industry analysts warn that the firms are likely to pass the cost on to householders, ramping up bills by at least two per cent or about ?9 a year at current prices.

The new annual tax would be on top of the ?80 added to bills last year by other green schemes.

Critics warn another 1.7 million homes will be pushed into fuel poverty, spending over 10 per cent of their income on energy.

The news comes only days after the Government announced an ?6-a-year stealth tax on landline phones to pay for fast broadband internet services.

Consumer Focus energy expert Jonathan Stearn said: ?Tackling climate change is essential.

?But much of the cost is likely to be passed on to consumers through higher energy bills. This could stretch the lowest income households further and plunge many into fuel poverty.?

Analysts believe householders will pay at least two per cent on top of their annual electricity bill, which currently average ?445.

But Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at comparison site uSwitch, warned last night that the hike would be much bigger.

She said: ?Bills are going to go up very significantly. People are already worried about the size of their bills, and it is going to get a lot worse.? Ian Parrett, of energy analysts Inenco, agreed.

He said: ?The Government isn?t putting any money in, so we are talking about electricity costs being significantly higher.?

Age Concern and Help the Aged charity director Michelle Mitchell also warned: ?Any increase will be extremely worrying for millions of older people already struggling with the cost of heating their homes.?

About a third of the UK?s electricity is generated by coal, the most polluting fuel. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband wants to create four carbon capture facilities that would each store 20 million tons of carbon dioxide, the gas produced by coal-fired power stations, underground.

David Porter, chief executive of the Association of Electricity Producers, said: ?Without some money from outside the industry it is doubtful this very expensive technology can be afforded.

?The benefit to the consumer is that if it works, it should help to keep the lights on."

firemouth
22nd June, 2009, 01:21 PM
somebody has to pay for it m8. where is the money coming from, thin air? ok bash the government, but get some proportion. even if we force the company's themselves to do it, we still pay. this way round, the companies cant scam on tax, and divert the money to other projects. its not really rocket science.

Mjolinor
22nd June, 2009, 03:08 PM
The utilities should pay. They are cash rich companies and the costs associated with implementing energy management have a really short payback time. They will show profit in under 2 years if they implement a full Smart Grid system.

All that happens if the government pay is that they make profit from day one.

We do not live in a communist country. If the private companies want the profit for the shareholders then the private companies should fork out for the investment. If they want to take the utilities back to be government owned then that works too but you cant have the flow for investment from the government and the profit not being returned.
.

firemouth
23rd June, 2009, 11:09 AM
The utilities should pay. They are cash rich companies and the costs associated with implementing energy management have a really short payback time. They will show profit in under 2 years if they implement a full Smart Grid system.

All that happens if the government pay is that they make profit from day one.

We do not live in a communist country. If the private companies want the profit for the shareholders then the private companies should fork out for the investment. If they want to take the utilities back to be government owned then that works too but you cant have the flow for investment from the government and the profit not being returned.
.

if the utility's pay, we pay. "simples"