Green levies ‘will add £200 to energy bills’

BRITISH Gas claims the cost of funding green energy and supporting poor families will add £200 to everybody’s bills next year.

The company says it would be fairer to pay for the measures through general taxation instead. The proposals were outlined by Ian Conn, the boss of parent company Centrica.

The cost of Government schemes – which include funding for wind farms – are seen as highly contentious. At the moment, they are funded through levies on energy companies, who then pass the costs on to consumers.

A committee set up by the Government estimated the schemes would add £140 to annual household bills in 2017, rising to £174 by 2020. But earlier this year, Centrica suggested the figure for 2017 was £145, and Mr Conn now claims it will add an average of £200 next year. Mr Conn said: ‘The cost of renewable policies on everyone’s bills ... has now reached over £5billion a year. It is going to be costing next year, in our estimates, about £200 on everyone’s bills.’

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said it did not recognise the £200 figure and cited research by Ofgem, which put it at £90 a year.