Green energy regulation will be “rolled-back” according to Prime Minister David Cameron to reduce energy bills.
At Prime Minister’s Question Time, in response to questions from Labour leader and former Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, David Cameron blamed green subsidies for higher bills.
Following a question from Ed Miliband, in which the Labour leader referenced comments from former Prime Minister Sir John Major that there should be intervention in the energy market to reduce bills, David Cameron said: “I do believe in intervening in the energy market. That is why we are legislating to put customers on the lowest tariff.
“Now where John Major is absolutely right is that bills in this country have reached a completely unacceptable level and we need to take action on that. We need to help people to pay their bills and we also need to help get bills down.
“This is where we need a very frank conversation about what it is that is putting bills up. We are prepared to have that conversation…
“…We need to roll back some of the green regulations and charges that are putting up bills.
“…We need to recognise there are four bits to the energy bill. There are the wholesale prices which are beyond our control, there are the costs of transmission and the grid which are difficult to change, there are the profits of the energy companies and there are the green regulations. It is those last two that we need to get to grips with.
“So I can tell the House today, that we will be having a proper competition test, carried out over the next year to get to the bottom of whether this market can be more competitive.
“I want more companies, I want better regulation, I want better deals for consumers.
“But yes, we also need to roll back the green charges he put in as Energy Secretary.”
