Raise Taxes to Bring Down Energy Bills, British Gas Boss Tells Reeves
The boss of British Gas owner Centrica, Chris O’Shea, has urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to raise taxes to bring down energy bills. The Telegraph has more.
Chris O’Shea said the Chancellor must act to prevent hard-up households from shouldering the cost of Ed Miliband’s Net Zero transition.
In particular, he signalled that Centrica would support plans to shift green levies from household bills to general taxation.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, he said: “The cost of the energy transition is not small.
“It’s not because renewables are expensive, it’s just because we have an energy system that was designed for a world that no longer exists, so we’re having to upgrade the energy system and that requires a quite substantial investment.
“At the moment, the costs for doing that come off consumer bills. There is an option to put that on general taxation and that’s something that we would support at Centrica.”
Mr O’Shea acknowledged that the Chancellor was facing significant financial pressures, especially ahead of the upcoming spending review.
However, he said: “The reality is that we as a country have to pay for the upgrade of the energy infrastructure, either through bills or through general taxation.”
His comments come amid mounting scrutiny over so-called green levies, which are charges added to household energy bills to help fund renewables such as wind and solar.
These are seen as key to supporting Mr Miliband’s target of reaching Net Zero by 2050.
However, critics have accused the Energy Secretary of failing to tackle sky-high energy bills.
The Climate Change Committee, which advises the Government on its emissions targets, has said that green levies should be removed from household costs and shifted either on to gas bills or general taxation.
In a report last month, the quango said it was concerned that high electricity bills were preventing consumers from buying heat pumps and electric cars, which in turn was slowing down the energy transition.
Business leaders have also urged Mr Miliband to scrap green levies as British companies grapple with the highest electricity prices of anywhere in the developed world.
Worth reading in full.
“It’s not because renewables are expensive.” This man is in charge of Centrica. How can he not know that renewables are extortionately pricey? The energy industry seems to be stuck in a fantasy land of green wishful thinking, and it’s the rest of us paying the ever-growing price.
David Turver has an excellent new post out where he shows how much more expensive renewable energy is than the government has projected. It’s worth reading the whole post, but here are some key graphs:
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What a clown. Not a funny one though.
Coulrophobia is a specific phobic disorder that causes anxiety, nausea and sweating when you see clowns or clown images. Common enough that there is a word for it.
Is there such a thing as Twatophobia when you see somebody that is obviously a twat – and an overpaid one at that.
“It’s not because renewables are expensive, it’s just because we have an energy system that was designed for a world that no longer exists, …”
I would like to know which world Mr O’Shea inhabits because the world that the rest of us inhabit is very much alive and kicking.
His world is one where he judges that for the benefit of his career, he pretends that certain things are true, whether or not he believes them.
Renewables are expensive. It is the wind and sun that isn’t. But harnessing the wind and sun is expensive. The countries with the most wind turbines have the highest prices. Renewables are expensive because (1) They don’t last much longer than 15 years compared to eg a Nuclear Plant (60 years) (2) They only produce part time energy requiring backup which adds to the cost. It is a bit like having to own 2 cars instead of one. (3) They take up huge areas of land that cannot be used for other things.——The other thing that most ordinary people won’t know is that our government insists on tying the price of wind energy to the price of gas so that we don’t get the advantage of the “free wind”
Wind is very expensive to deliver as the best locations are far from where there is any demand – just as well given how the sound the windmills generate destroys peoples lives.
“a world that no longer exists…” A convenient pretence for creating a brave – and very epensive – new world.
And yet here we all are…
““It’s not because renewables are expensive.” This man is in charge of Centrica. How can he not know that renewables are extortionately pricey? ”
Of course he knows.
In the immortal words of Mandy Rice-Davies, “Well he would, wouldn’t he?”.
The Telegraph disappoints, as usual. Why does it require a “government” to “tackle energy bills”. Energy bills are high BECAUSE OF THE GOVERNMENT. The solution is apparently MORE GOVERNMENT. Genuis.
This all started with the Climate Change Act 2008 Miliband. Bills have been rising year on year ever since as our silly governments try to pretend to us they are saving the planet. meanwhile in the USA electricity prices are 3-4 times lower, except in California which is governed by Socialists that want to be just like Europe and impoverish their own people.
The end of a bell.
In particular, he signalled that Centrica would support plans to shift green levies from household bills to general taxation.
That’s the same thing you muppet. How is he in charge of an energy company?
Least worst than other candidates.
I sold up on Centrica so not able to vote against him anymore.
“… must act to prevent hard-up households from shouldering the cost of Ed Miliband’s Net Zero transition.
In particular, he signalled that Centrica would support plans to shift green levies from household bills to general taxation.”
And hard up households pay general taxation which is a higher proportion of their income than for not hard up households, and are inescapable.
There is something very wrong with those in high positions. .
Another one so short-sighted he doesn’t see the elephant in the room. THE WEST HAS BEEN ON A CRUSADE AGAINST RUSSIA, dummy.
To that end it started a crisis in Ukraine by overthrowing President Yanukovich & followed through with the CIA into Ukraine, persecution of Russians there, & supporting the inevitable civil war, daring Russia to intervene, having already prepared “sanctions from hell” to “destroy Russia’s economy” (so said Liz Truss).
Russia responded to the decade of provocation, and the major sanction was to stop nearly 40 years of affordable reliable Russian oil and gas.
Now European industries (Germany’s BASF, Volkswagen, Britain’s Steel at Scunthorpe and Port Talbot ) are forced to close down due to unaffordable energy costs.
Geniuses at work! And here’s another genius, with his genius solution.
Energy cost is not really the reason for Scunthorpe’s demise. The plant dates from the 1950s and should have been replaced years ago to be competitive. Consider how well you would do if you competed in today’s F1 GPs with a car from the 1950s. The higher cost of living here does have an impact on the cost of running the plant given that staff and service providers face rising energy costs.
Make my company look good – I don’t care if it makes the government look bad.
It really is highly dishonest. He’s trying to con people into believing that if the tax is charged directly to the workers it will be less than taxing his company who then pass on those as costs to their consumers.
Raise taxes to reduce energy bills – this, seriously, really is the logic of a senior civil servant. Feckin thick doesn’t come close.
here is a great way to save us all 1.4 TRILLION. —–Get rid of NET ZERO. Because that is what it is costing us all.
A world that no longer exists!
Yes it does, it’s just that religious fanatics like Milliband and this man have decided that it needs to be ignored.
We have plenty of cheap natural resources in oil, and gas, but these fanatics instead are forcing expensive, inefficient systems on us, and then arguing about where the deck chairs should be moved on the titanic.
They through their swivel eyed insanity are destroying industry, personal wealth, taking us back to the dark ages (literally), and fussing about how they can take more money from us to pay for their doom ridden madness.
The world which this moron says “no longer exists” appears to be thriving in China, India the USA and many other countries which are using fossil fuels.
So it DOES exist …. apart from in his head.
He’s got to stick to the agreed script… or he’s toast
It’s not the cost which is dissuading me from getting a heat pump and EV.
It’s the fact that they don’t effin work.
Exactly!! If they could stand on their own two feet then there would be no need for taxpayers cash bribes. Same can be said for wind and solar.
Er, sorry? General taxation?! What planet does this (probably leftist) idiot come from?
Shutting down the nuts zero mental derangement would reduce energy bills in weeks. Thr problem is state interference with the location, production and use of vital energy. And the meddling with markets and government aparatchiks deciding what energy sources and delivery systems we can have.
It’s communism that is the problem – the communism of this idiot country
The way you bring down energy bills is—– STOP PRETENDING TO SAVE THE PLANET AND PANDERING TO THE GLOBALIST POLITICS OF THE TECHNOCRATS AT THE UN AND WEF WHO SAY THE WEALTHY WEST HAS USED UP TOO MUCH OF THE WORLDS RESOURCES AND SHOULD FOB ITS CITIZENS OFF WITH WIND AND SUN USING IRRATIONAL FEAR OF A “CLIMATE CRISIS” TO ROB THEIR CITIZENS BLIND.
Moving green levies from electricity bills to general taxation. What a genius this man is. If green levies are concealed in general taxation, not only will many people not notice the extra amount put on their taxes and the prices they pay for goods and services to fund the increase in business taxes, but they’ll also believe their energy bills to be falling. This will be an enormous boost to the “cheap renewables” scam.
It’s mugger turned pickpocket. Rather than knowing your hard-earned cash is being taken from you, you’ll only find out when you get home that it’s not there.