Call to cut green taxes on energy bills this winter

The taxes, mostly added to electricity bills, increase them by an average of £150 a year.

They were brought in to help fund the shift to lowercarbon heating.

But the wholesale gas price surge could force up bills by as much as £800 a year.

Energy supplier Eon and renewable firms Octopus, Bulb and Ovo said a shortterm solution would be to suspend green taxes.

It comes as ministers press ahead with plans to shift some of the burden, cutting electricity taxes over the next decade but increasing gas ones by about £170 a year.

They want a move away from gas boilers and towards heat pumps. It would hit lower-income families the hardest as they use more gas.

Emma Young, of Bulb, urged a shift “from electricity bills to general taxation”.

Eon’s UK CEO Michael Lewis said: “The most significant thing we can do over winter is remove these costs from electricity bills and fund them through government expenditure.”

The Department for Energy said a price cap was “the best safety net for consumers”.

source: express.co.uk