Ofgem vs EPCs - the fight is on

 Only a few weeks ago Red Miliband was preaching that tenants were struggling in fuel poverty because of evil landlords and that Red was going to make things good with tenants by forcing their evil landlords (unless the evil landlord was the government) to spend £15,000 improving the home's energy efficiency EPC to "C" in order to save victim tenants £240 per year in energy bills.

Well the saying goes that a week is a long time in politics and now Red Miliband has allowed Ofgem to increase the energy price cap to £1,849 per year - an increase of £111 per year compared to the last hike that Labour allowed through.

So let's wind the clock back to July 2024 when Labour were elected.  They promised to reduce energy bills by £300 by the end of the term. At the time the Ofgem price cap was £1,568.  It then increased to £1,717 in October 2024...again in Jan 2025 it increased to £1,738 and now it will increase to £1,849 in April 2025.

So that's an increase to £1,849 from £1,568 - a £281 increase in 9 months. Maybe we misheard Red Miliband and he was promising to increase bills by £300 each year rather than reduce them by £300? 

So back to our evil landlords. They are supposed to "invest" (actually spend) £15,000 in order to save tenants £240 on their energy bills yet the target is moving - Labour have already increased it by £281 so tenants would still be worse off even if the generous landlord spent the £15,000 to save the tenant £240.... 

I'm sure Red and party girl Angela will still be crowing about fuel poverty and that it's all due to those evil landlords....

Now back to bills.

So a typical bill has increased by £281 in 9 months. 

So that means you are paying £14.05 extra in VAT. The government gains from this.

There are also hidden charges in the form of the energy levy in your bill. These "taxes" are given straight to the super rich green energy companies to build solar FARMS and wind FARMS where no growing of vegetables is involved unlike real FARMS.  Red keeps telling us that green energy is very cost effective and costs less than fossil fuels yet we still have to keep giving these green energy companies our money. 

Something seems to be broken - we keep giving these green energy companies more money yet our bills are going up - not down. Maybe if we stop giving these green energy companies our money our bills will go down rather than up?

Now Labour will blame the wholesale gas market -  yet prices are falling. How come our prices are rising when the cost of gas is falling?  Are these wind turbines and solar arrays powered by gas ?

So your energy bill has a hidden tax of a green levy.  16% of your electric bill and 6% of your gas bill.

So assuming a 50:50 split that means of your £281 increase so far since Labour got in, that means you're paying another £44.96 of tax on your electric and £16.86 of tax on your gas.

So the total extra tax so far under Labour is £44.96 + £16.86 + £14.05 = £75.87 bringing the total TAX you pay per year on your energy bill to £92.45 + £295.84+ £110.94 = £499.23 of your £1,849 energy bills.

Back to our evil landlords.  They are expected to save tenants £240 whilst Labour has increased energy bills by £281 so far (and will probably be more over the next few years) and Labour have taken and additional £75.87 in tax increasing energy taxes to £499.23 of your bill.

Is forcing landlords to spend vast sums to save a few pennys for tenants  the real solution when the UK already has some of the highest energy prices in the world.  Even broken Germany has lower energy prices than the UK and dont even dare compare our prices to the USA.

So how about the green energy levy is given for free to Landlords  rather than given for free to the rich energy companies in order to install solar panels on tenants homes? Or maybe scrap the green energy levy and save tenants £406.78 per year on hidden taxes that directly benefits the rich energy companies?

Labour must think we are stupid.

Sign my petition to make councils and social landlords comply with the same rules as private landlords and stop council tenants living in cold damp homes.