Government set to backtrack on key green policies

Rishi Sunak is today expected to announce a rollback on some of the government’s key green commitments, despite overwhelming public support for green measures like improving energy efficiency and increasing renewable energy production.

This is not just about the environment. The UK’s reliance on fossil fuels is driving sky high energy prices for ordinary people and businesses.

Net zero not only helps our planet but will also create cheaper energy for everyone and stop rip off energy companies fleecing UK households of billions of pounds.

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Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, which is part of the Warm This Winter campaign commented:

“This is not just about the environment. The UK’s reliance on fossil fuels is driving sky high energy prices for ordinary people and businesses.

“A more secure renewable energy future helps our planet and will also create cheaper energy for everyone.

"It’s high time to end fuel poverty and mend the broken energy system which is placing an unfair burden on consumers with more than five million Brits already in energy debt and millions more facing a bleak winter ahead of them.”

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Warm This Winter will be fact-checking any announcements by the Prime Minister on changes to his promises and policies on net zero, particularly around gas boilers, and analysing fact from fiction to see who will profit from any delays.

Here at Warm This Winter our policy is to end fuel poverty and mend the broken energy system which is placing an unfair burden on consumers with more than five million Brits already in energy debt and millions more facing a bleak winter ahead of them.

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Key Facts:

For millions of people, this winter will be worse than the last, while energy companies are still making eye-watering profits.

• Average energy bills are still DOUBLE what they were two years ago. And over 7 million homes will PAY MORE THIS WINTER than last to heat their homes despite lower energy prices, because government help has been withdrawn and standing charges have risen.
• Already over 5 million people are in DEBT to their energy supplier, with many owing over £1200 for electricity and nearly £1000 for gas. In the first half of this year, nearly 8 million people have already had to BORROW money to cover their energy bills.
• Over 1 million people DISCONNECTED their energy supply from January to March this year; and more than 1 million CHILDREN live in households that went without heating, hot water and electricity in the first half of 2023.

• What this means is that A NEW ENERGY CLASS SYSTEM is emerging in Britain based on access to energy. Fewer than 5 million households are exempt from the pain that Britain’s broken energy system is creating. 

Meanwhile, energy company PROFITS are soaring. British Gas, for example, made nearly £1 billion in the first half of 2023. Energy suppliers’ profits on domestic energy bills could reach almost £2bn in the next 12 months with Ofgem INCREASING the profit allowances energy firms can take from our bills.