Scrapping green policies has caused household bills to rise by £2.5bn, analysis finds

Households are paying £40 more a year because of this, research says

UK households are once again facing a rise to energy bills (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Scrapping green policies over the past decade has added nearly £2.5bn onto the UK’s energy bills, according to new analysis.

This works out at around £40 a year more for the average household, according to the findings by Carbon Brief, a website covering the climate crisis and energy policy.

The analysis said this could add even more - £60 - a year onto bills under an expected price cap increase in winter.

It comes after separate analysis earlier this week found customers faced paying £3.9bn more this year due to Tory government decisions to scrap climate policies.

The UK households are once again bracing for a rise in gas and electricity bills this spring - with estimates saying these could increase by just over 50 per cent.

The energy crisis has been sparked by soaring gas prices, which are in turn fuelling a sharp rise in the cost of living.

The Carbon Brief analysis suggested getting rid of climate policies - including cutting spending on energy-efficiency home improvements and scapping the zero carbon homes standard - has resulted in higher bills.

It found the ban on onshore wind farm subsidies, which was in place for several years, had the biggest impact on household costs.

The analysis estimated UK househoulds would have seen savings of a total of £1.9bn on current energy bills, if it were not for this policy - which led to a sharm drop in onshore wind development.

The ban on these subsidies was pushed through in 2015 by then-prime minister David Cameron, who reportedly said two years before he wanted to cut the “green crap” in order to save money.

Experts told The Independent last week the UK’s energy crisis has been exacerbated by the government dragging its feet on renewables.

A government spokesperson said: “We have consistently backed renewable energy sources including both onshore and offshore wind, delivering a 500 per cent increase in the amount of renewable energy capacity connected to the grid since 2010 – more than any other government in British history.”

They said the government was also investing over £6.6bn billion to decarbonise homes and “insulating millions of consumers from high gas prices through the energy price cap”.