Electricity prices are four times higher than gas, making it harder for households and businesses to switch to cleaner fuel. This is all down to outdated taxation (or levies) on electricity. Almost half of all electricity is now produced from renewable sources.
ECA has long advocated for the reform of levies on electricity by rebalancing of taxation between electricity and gas. In Britain we are paying some of the highest electricity prices in the world, slowing down the adoption of electrification in heat and transport. ECA, along with 35 organisations from the energy sector, have written an open letter to the Secretary of State, Ed Miliband, calling for urgent reform of the electricity levies.
The number one recommendation of the independent Climate Change Committee’s Seventh Carbon Budget is to make electricity cheaper by removing policy costs. The joint letter supports this position, while pointing out the importance of electrification to the UK energy security and independence in an unstable world.
The letter said: “Even if climate change was not happening, it would still be right to electrify. Our dependence on gas imports exposes every household with a gas boiler, and the entire economy, to the erratic international gas markets the UK cannot influence."
Last updated 08 April 25