Monday June 30, 10:11 AM
Going Green: Energy Bills May Rise 20%
By Sky News
Householders face an extra 20% rise in gas and electricity bills to fund ambitious emission EU targets, a new report has warned. Consumers are already under pressure from soaring energy tariffs and are set to have to fork out an extra £5.3bn
by 2020 to help tackle climate change.There are already fears that energy costs could go up by up to 40% this year alone as oil prices continue rising. But a report from Ernst & Young, called Costing the Earth, claimed the EU 2020 targets for emission and renewal energy will further compound the energy cost pressures. The study estimates that households will have to pay £213 more by 2020 to fund the £100bn or more of capital investment needed by the UK to meet the EU requirements. But the report also found that consumers are not prepared to pay more for their energy to combat climate change. More than two thirds of consumers surveyed for the report said that they would not and should not have to pay more and half said they would not reduce energy consumption. "The average consumer does not appear to realise that this additional cost is going to hit their wallets," said co-author Simon Harvey. "There seems to be a worrying degree of apathy among consumers to reduce energy consumption, despite daily headlines about rising fuel bills." The bosses of the UK's biggest energy firms last week warned householders to brace themselves for higher bills. Prices are likely to rise due to soaring wholesale gas costs, directors told MPs. In Europe, wholesale gas costs are linked to oil prices, which have surged past $140 a barrel in recent weeks.
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