This striking report is from the London Times:
Families will experience the biggest fall in living standards since records began, the Bank of England revealed today, as energy bills were confirmed to rise by £700 per household.
In a bleak assessment of the year ahead, the Bank’s monetary policy committee warned that take-home pay would fall by five times the amount it did during financial crisis of 2008.
This seems newsworthy: the “biggest fall in living standards since records began”– although, to be fair, the records in question only go back to 1990–and take-home pay declining by “five times the amount it did during the financial crisis of 2008.” So, what is causing this severe hit to the well-being of English families? Unreliable–i.e., “green”–energy.
It came after Ofgem, the energy regulator, confirmed this morning that the price cap on energy bills for 22 million households would rise by £693 from April to £1,971 a year. A total of 4.5 million households with prepayment meters will see their bills rise by £708 to £2,017.
The British government is planning to spread out the impending jump in energy prices over a period of years to cushion the blow:
Announcing a £9 billion package of loans and council tax rebates to help, the chancellor acknowledged that cost of living was the “No 1 issue” on people’s minds and that rising bills would be “incredibly tough” for millions of families.
However, he said that the government cannot keep energy bills “artificially low” in the face of soaring wholesale gas prices, adding that to do otherwise would be “dishonest”.
He instead announced plans which will cushion the majority of households from half of the rise in energy bills. Every household will receive a £200 rebate funded by £5.5 billion in government loans, which will be clawed back from households in the form of a £40 surcharge for each of the next five years.
There is no shortage of energy in the world, but there is an excess of graft: “green” energy is impoverishing those whose governments have been so foolish as to abandon cheap, reliable energy. Unfortunately, our own government is following the corrupt “green” path. A few are getting rich, and the rest of us will pay the price.
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