Green Heating Blackmail: New UK Plan will Tax The Poor
The world has officially gone mad. While on one hand we’re facing a dire recession, on the other the cost of basic amenities like gas and electricity is skyrocketing.Those from lower income backgrounds, particularly old people, are the ones who are especially at risk in terms of health. They are the ones who need to be able to stay warm the most in winter. But it is exactly these people who are increasingly struggling to heat their homes.
We constantly hear advertising campaigns by multinational oil companies as well as government departments talking about Green, Renewable Energy. It is meant to be the solution to the problems of our world. And who would argue with the idea of saving some money and saving the planet. With this mantra on their lips, they win votes and build wind farms, supposedly for our benefit.
However the latest initiative by the UK government reveals the truth behind this egalitarian rhetoric. The plan is called the “Renewable Heating Incentive”, and aims to construct a large number of wind farms and solar energy facilities to reduce reliance on fast depleting and environmentally unfriendly fossil fuel sources. But they’re not going to ask the energy companies to invest in these desperately needed energy sources. The money to fund this scheme is ultimately going to come from ordinary people’s pockets! The plan aims to charge a levy to energy providers using fossil fuels. However the energy corporations intend to force their customers to pay this levy, by increasing our heating bills.
Gas prices went up by 59% last year, and electricty by 26%. This meant that millions had to think twice about switching on their portable heaters. Going green has been touted as a way for people struggling to pay their bills to lower their costs. However if this idea is brought in it will harm precisely those who are struggling. Basically, if you have money, you will be able to afford the necessary home improvements to make your house ecologically powered. But if you can’t, and resort to using fan heaters or oil filled radiators to warm your house when the temperatures drop, you’ll be hit with higher energy bills. This will be the case even with the proposed low interest loans being offered to carry out the work. If you’re already up to your neck in debts and worried about making rent next month, you’re hardly likely to take out a new loan, low interest or not. If the introduction of university student loans have taught us anything, its that offering low interest loans only make these schemes more appealing to the middle classes.
Is this not an unfair situation? Surely it would be much better to force energy corporations to give up a small percentage of their enormous profits to pay for this scheme. This money could then be used to provide green energy refubishment to those on lower incomes who are struggling to pay the bills, so that their bills can be reduced. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.
Written by woohooyeh on April 9th, 2009 with
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