20131011_RH

Source: BBC Radio 4

URL: N/A

Date: 11/10/2013

Event: Lord Stern: "support for renewables will actually make bills cheaper, in the long run"

Credit: BBC Radio 4

People:

• Roger Harrabin: BBC Radio 4 announcer and newsreader
• Caroline Nicholls: BBC Radio 4 announcer and newsreader

Caroline Nicholls: The former World Bank chief economist Lord Stern has claimed people are being misled about the effect green taxes are having on their energy bills. Yesterday one of the Big Six energy suppliers said the government's green levies were partly responsible for its decision to raise gas and electricity prices this winter. David Cameron picked up on the remarks, saying green levies shouldn't be there for a moment longer than they're necessary. Lord Stern says a concerted campaign of misinformation is under way by the companies and some newspapers, in an attempt to shift blame onto environmental taxes, when the overarching cause has been the increasing cost of gas. Here's our Environment Analyst Roger Harrabin.

Roger Harrabin: The cost of energy was thrust back into the headlines when the firm SSE announced an 8.2% price rise. It blamed part of the rise on taxes supporting renewable power, and that message was amplified in some newspapers.

Lord Stern, who wrote an influential global review of climate change economics, said the UK's dependence on fossil fuels caused three quarters of the increase in household bills since 2004. Less than a fifth of the £360 rise was forced by green taxes, he said, and most of that went to help poor families insulate their homes.

The renewables industry also points out that green taxes on energy constitute less than 3% of the average total dual-fuel bill. They say, by comparison, the UK government's spending £2.3 billion a year for the nuclear cleanup, and the final bill could eventually top £100 billion.

Lord Stern says that with fossil fuel prices likely to continue to rise, support for renewables will actually make bills cheaper, in the long run.