UK energy costs are set to double for 22 million households with bills arriving in the next few weeks.
The media are reporting that the UK’s energy system has been plunged into chaos by a perfect storm of market forces, and whilst market forces are involved what lays behind them is much more important, and much closer to home.
We have been repeatedly told that we are in the middle of a climate emergency, and that we must immediately and permanently stop burning fossil fuels to save mankind from killing the planet. The mantra, repeated incessantly for a decade now, has formed fundamental government policy, vastly accelerated when eco-activist Carrie Symonds moved into 10 Downing Street.
The 'crisis' is, like so many things these days, based on computer models and in the minds of champagne socialists like Symonds with no evidence of the crisis anywhere to be seen since its invention in the 1970s. But that didn't stop successive British governments from basing all of its energy policy on the scare story.
A multi-billion pound energy reform plan has been implemented over the last decade that has seen coal fired power stations shut down and for massive investment in renewables. Wind, solar, and wave power are the order of the day. These, and only these, can save mankind say the eco-mentalists. The UK government never stopped to properly do the maths, rushing headlong into a policy demanded by activists from the home counties.
The switching-off of coal-fired power stations, an energy source that is cheap, plentiful, and which the UK is self sufficient for, has been the single biggest cause of price rises in Britain. Britain has enjoyed cheap energy for decades but all that came to an end supposedly replaced by what was claimed to be equally as cheap wind and wave power. Except that wind and wave power isn't as cheap, its cost to produce is over 400% higher than that of Coal, and it has proven wholly unreliable as an energy source. Germany, who were some way ahead of the UK in the transition experienced huge shortfalls in energy demand, so much so that the country had to bring Coal power stations out of mothballs and fire them back up of face huge parts of the country in darkness for months. The failure of green energy in Germany should have been a warning to the UK government but was ignored.
Now the Government, and media are blaming 'market forces' for the huge bills that are about to land on the doormats of UK homeowners. The energy regulator's new price cap - the maximum amount suppliers can charge customers for each unit of energy - is likely to add hundreds of pounds onto the annual bill for 22 million homes.
Ofgem's new cap for England, Wales and Scotland will take effect in April.
Ministers are reported to have plans to provide loans for energy firms to help them cut money from customers' bills, a situation that they created in the first place. Details of the new cap are due to be announced at 11:00 GMT today. A typical household will face an annual increase of more than £600 on their energy bill, with a further increase of as much as £400 to come in the winter after the next cap is set in six months' time, analysts have said.
This madness will push many households to the brink and raise the death-rate of elderly and vulnerable people who cannot afford the huge price rise.