Topical question asked in the House of Commons, by Nicholas Winterton (Conservative). It was answered on Thursday, 5 November 2009 on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Topical Questions

Question: With the introduction of climate change measures, what is the average additional levy that gas and electricity users pay on their bills each quarter?

Answer: We said in the low carbon transition plan, which is getting a lot of airtime today, that the impact of the climate change measures that we announced in it would be about 6 per cent. on bills by 2020, or about 8 per cent. including previous measures. It is important to say that we do not believe there is a low-cost, high-carbon future out there, even if we wanted to pursue it. As we import more gas and as demand from China, India and other countries goes up, if we do not transition to other fuels we will be subject to more volatile prices as a result of growing demand from those countries.

Secondary information