Funding for
energy efficiency will offset increased energy costs over the decade, says coalition governmentDomestic energy bills should rise by only £13 by 2020 because of measures to cut carbon emissions, but businesses face much steeper increases, the government said today.In its first annual energy statement to parliament, the coalition government published 32 measures - mostly previous commitments by the Labour government or the Conservative-Liberal Democrat policy agreement. They included a Green New Deal to make homes more efficient to reform of the main energy regulator, Ofgem.Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem climate and energy secretary also published a review of the impacts on homes and businesses of the policies, which are
designed to meet targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use by 34% by 2020 and 80% by the middle of the century.By the end of the decade, average households bills for both gas and electricity would be £1,239 a year, just £13 higher than estimated bills without the policies, though nearly £200 a year higher than current combined bills.The impact on businesses would be much steeper, however, the government estimates show. For an "average medium-sized non-domestic user", the combined bills would be £1,778 a year in 2020, 26% or £368 higher than without the government policies. For comparison, current average bills for medium-sized business customers are £1,217 a year, as at May 2010.Energy prices would rise much more steeply, but most of the increases for households would be offset by improvements to insulation and grants to encourage more home generation of
renewable energy such as
solar and wind power, some of which can also be sold to the National Grid.• Decc has also release a 2050 carbon calculator that shows the effects of different energy policies on the
UK's carbon emissions. We will have more on this later, but for comparison you can try out our own national carbon calculator.EnergyEnergy billsEnergy industry ...
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