Jess Ralston, a senior analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said the lack of a plan for insulation was a “glaring omission” that left open the question of what would happen to bill-payers when the “stopgap” windfall tax payments ceased. Renewable energy is now cheaper than fossil fuels. Last week, the government announced it would allow for only about 12GW of new renewable energy capacity in its annual auction round, although renewable industry experts say nearly 18GW of new offshore and onshore wind and solar projects are “shovel-ready” and could begin production this year or next year. Green power and energy efficiency are the real solutions.” Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, added: “Giving a tax exemption to the fossil fuel giants that have done so much to cause the climate emergency and profit from the energy crisis for more oil and gas extraction is plainly wrong. Yet the current cost of living crisis is mostly a result of gas price rises – hard-up families shouldn’t have to wait for the prime minister and chancellor to deliver cheaper and cleaner energy to help with their bills.” McCarthy said: “Instead of driving money into clean energy solutions, Sunak has used this announcement to encourage oil and gas company investments. Yet new oil and gas production will take years, perhaps decades, to come to fulfilment, making no impact on energy bills now and potentially busting the UK’s future carbon budgets. Sunak also announced that oil and gas companies that invest in new fossil fuel production would receive a tax break worth 90% of the windfall tax. Funding energy efficiency would protect against future bills as well as this year’s increases. She said profits should have been taxed at 70%, more than doubling the cash available, which could have funded energy efficiency measures such as insulation for homes as well as the payments to households the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has agreed.
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