Fair energy? Not in this Budget

The Chancellor announced in the Budget that gas is cheap, writes Ed Matthew, director of Transform UK. Tell that to the 6.3 million households in fuel poverty.

Despite the fact that 80 per cent of the rise in energy bills in recent years has been due to rising gas prices, the Chancellor continues to pedal the line that the rise has been driven by renewables.

After failing to regulate the banking industry, the Treasury is now failing to regulate the fossil fuel industry. The risk to the UK economy this time is far worse.

If the Government was genuinely concerned with helping households to cut energy bills they would prioritise action to make homes as energy-efficient as possible.

The Energy Bill Revolution campaign – www.energybillrevolution.org – offers a solution to rising bills.

The Government will collect around £4bn in carbon tax every year for the next 15 from the European Emissions Trading Scheme and the Carbon Floor Price.

If this was recycled back to fuel poor households it could provide an average grant of £6,500 to 600,000 households every year to make their homes super energy efficient. In time, every UK household could benefit.

The Government has to choose between serving the interests of the big fossil fuel companies or ordinary households.