Green tax hike hits businesses - Telegraph

Green taxes will make up more than a third of the price of electricity by the end of the decade, pushing up prices to new highs by 2020.

Figures from Utilyx, the energy consultants and traders, forecast a 58pc rise in the cost of power by 2020, largely driven by the impending avalanche of green taxes due to come into force over the next 10 years.

The consultants estimate that 18pc of the current electricity price relates to climate change policies – or £15 per megawatt-hour out of a £82 per megawatt-hour average.

However, green taxes and new infrastructure costs will constitute 38pc of the charges, or £50 per megawatt-hour out of £130 per mega-watt hour, by 2020.

Consumers and businesses are already facing much higher prices this year because companies have put up power bills by 7pc to 16pc, blaming volatile wholesale prices.

Andrew Horstead, risk analyst at Utilyx, said this should cause “alarms bells to ring within Government, at a time when its measures to stimulate investment in low carbon generation will also feed through to higher prices”.