Many right-wing commentators are blaming “green taxes” or “environmental levies” for rising energy bills and increasing numbers of people living in fuel poverty in Britain. Their logic is, however, is fundamentally flawed and would appear to be based on anti-climate action sentiment rather than fact.
Energy bills are rocketing in the UK, and elsewhere in Europe, because of vast increases in the cost of wholesale gas. Prices have gone up by as much as nine times compared to the start of 2021, with a particularly steep rise in wholesale costs since Britain’s current price cap was decided in August. This means that consumers are going to suffer more pain in April, when the next increase in the cap is set to come into force. In November 2021, wholesale gas prices reached “unprecedented” levels, according to the energy regulator Ofgem. At the same time, policy support (those pesky “green taxes”) has remained stable.
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