Newsbytes from Dr. Benny Peiser at The GWPF:
Power companies were under mounting pressure last night to come clean about the green ‘stealth levies’ secretly added to fuel bills – and tell customers exactly how much they are paying for Britain’s climate change revolution. Consumer groups and MPs say energy suppliers should be forced to lay out on household bills how much customers are paying to subsidise green power and to end the UK’s dependence on coal, oil and gas. Energy minister Charles Hendy said: ‘I would welcome more companies including cost breakdowns on bills.’ —David Derbyshire, Daily Mail, 10 June 2011
People are having to pay more and more for climate change policies – but you won’t find any mention of them on most bills. That suits the Government because if politicians had to raise money for wind farms and other green policies by taxation, it would be incredibly unpopular. –Benny Peiser, Daily Mail, 10 June 2011
The U.K. cut subsidized rates for electricity from solar panels by as much as 71 percent, trying to avoid a proliferation of commercial solar farms that would compete with homes for the funding. The U.K. follows Spain, Germany and Italy in slashing solar tariffs to reduce costs for consumers and utilities that have to pay the higher expense of clean energy. Britain, the smallest market of the group and the latest to introduce subsidies, was the quickest to backpedal. “In terms of a solar industry that’s a generation industry at scale rather than a lifestyle choice, it’s pretty much dead,” said Mark Shorrock. —Bloomberg, 9 June 2011
Declaring that “science is politics in climate change; climate science is politics”, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday urged Indian scientists to undertake more studies and publish them vigorously to prevent India and other developing countries from being “led by our noses by Western (climate) scientists who have less of a scientific agenda and more of a political agenda”. —Indian Express, 9 June 2011
To find a remedy for New York State’s persistent fiscal problems, New Yorkers need only look down-far down. Over the period 2011 to 2020, New York State could gain $11.4 billion in economic output, 90,000 to 108,000 new jobs, and $1.4 billion in tax revenues. –Diana Furchtgott-Roth, RealClear Markets, 9 June 2011
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Trash collection fees are turning into a hidden green tax. Fees are $35 a month in Los Angeles, presumably to offset the sorting of recyclables. For that money (which I consider robbery), they give you two large bins for recycling and yard waste, and a smaller black one for “trash”, that’s it. The price goes up if you want more trash bins.
The best part? The night before trash collection, when everyone has left their bins out on the street. Groups of well-equipped men with headlamps and a large truck go through every recycle bin in the neighborhood, taking every scrap of metal left in them. The city gets significantly less than they would.
So for $35 a month, the city is giving entrepreneurial recyclers an easy shot at lots of cheap metal.
There are certainly subsidies in the UK, but the biggest green taxes in the UK are petrol prices for transport, which are certainly not hidden. There are lots of other subsidies, hidden or otherwise for energy companies and the fossil fuel industry in the UK, and more so in the USA. I would be interested in hearing an assessment of how the different subsidies for and against add up.
Does anyone here have this information available?
http://mitigatingapathy.blogspot.com/
It is true. Renewable production standards are green energy taxes.
In Colorado, we have restrictions on how new taxes can be enacted. Mandatory fees like the ones created through this structure are the only way the government can sneak this stuff through.
The last Labour Government invented hundreds of stealth taxes (Gordon Brown Ed Balls et al). They ran out of ideas for stealth taxes and so started to hide them away in electricity bills, so the the utilities could take the blame for price rises. People are beginning to realise how they have been conned by politicians into parting with more of their money without realising it.
Poor Brits! Back in 1776, the British government could not understand “No taxation without representation” and, apparently, has not learned that lesson even today. Taxation by Bureaucrat is “taxation without representation.” Could there be a democratic revolt in Britain?
Dont worry. It is official now. The Greenies are complete lunatics;
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2011/06/journal-nature-suggests-billions-of.html
What really riles is that here in the UK (and the rest of Europe) we pay tax on tax!
That’s right. Our fuel is subject to Fuel Tax, then the total cost after addition of Fuel Tax is taxed again at 20%. The result is petrol costing in excess of $10/gallon.
It’s called V.A.T. (Value added Tax) and a fair proportion goes to the European Union E.U.) . An organisation so corrupt that its own Auditors have refused to sign off on its budget for at least the last 10 years!
Needless to say the E.U. is all in favour of Green Taxes and carbon trading.
Phillip Bratby:
“They ran out of ideas for stealth taxes and so started to hide them away in electricity bills, so the the utilities could take the blame for price rises.”
I would love to see a simple, numerical description of all this. How much are we individually paying for all these sneaky wheezes in the UK? There’s plenty of comment about this around at the moment (as in the Daily Mail piece) – but I haven’t yet seen a clear description of exactly how much each of these extra charges to the utility companies are, and exactly how much of it is showing up on my bill.
Whuuuuttt??? People are waking up to the idea that climatology is political and that it is nothing more than a power/money grab? Will wonders never cease? 🙂 It comes in fits and starts, but, we’re winning. Watch for even more desperate wailing and gnashing of the teeth by our totalitarian misanthropist friends. The bells are starting to toll.
It is good to see the Daily Mail running with this story. I think that it would be beneficial for people to know how much they are paying for the subsidisation of this green folly. If the UK has another winter like the last two, and if people are struggling to pay thier fuel bills, it will really bring home how much this is costing.
I am sure that it is not entirely clear to the public why the public should be subsidising these capital costs. A levy is not impossed when the power company builds a new gas fire (or coal fire) station so why should the public subsidise the building of a wind farm? This especially so, since we are repeatedly told that wimd (and solar) is free energy (at least once the farm is built). It is usual for companies to invest in capital structure necessary to run their business and they receive payback in the long run by increased efficiency or by being able to continue to provide the service.
I suspect that If the power companies itemise their bills detailing the green subsidy there will be many people who refuse to pay that part of their bill. That would be interesting.
I posted this on another similar thread but it goes better here:
Just as a comparison for those around the world, this is my electric service charge for 4-20-11 to 5-19-11.
Usage was 731 kwh
New charges (Rate: RS-1 RESIDENTIAL SERVICE ) (U S dollars)
Electric service amount 69.47**
On call credit 9.50 CR
Storm charge 0.84
Gross receipts tax 1.56
Franchise charge 3.93
Actual electric charges 66.30
The On Call Credit works this way (from the FPL website):
“You allow us to cycle off select equipment for brief periods of time in exchange for a monthly credit.
This usually happens just 3-4 times a year – when it’s absolutely necessary. We simply require your permission to install an energy management device that may occasionally control this equipment. We typically do not activate this program during nights, weekends or holidays. It is normally implemented in early to late afternoons during the summer. It helps control electrical demand during peak periods or emergency situations
We give you a direct credit on your electric bill every month regardless of whether On Call® is activated or not
You can cancel the program at any time, without obligation or penalty
You always get to keep the existing credits you’ve earned”
I have the on call device on my electric water heater only.
The Franchise Charge is the cost of the electric company, FPL, to lease right of ways from the local government in order to deliver power.
The Storm Charge is to offset the extra expense of rebuilding the power grid that was destroyed in this area by the hurricanes in 2004 & 2005. It also goes to build a contingency fund for future hurricanes.
I would like to see other bills to compare the taxes charged and price per kwh with those taxes included.
EPA is replacing the “rule of law” with the “rule by bureaucrats.” See: AEP: EPA rules could cost billions; 6,000 MW of coal-fired generation retirements
That’s out of “our” pocketbook, just when we need to invest into new productive business to employ more people, not lay more people who have jobs.
The UK can simply take the Spanish solution. Invest heavily in green technology and thereby bankrupt your economy. Germany and France will be forced to bail you out to prevent the collapse of the Euro.
Who in the UK would not relish the though of Germany and France having to pay hundreds of billions of euro’s to pay off the UK’s debts?
Maybe Christopher Booker could do a piece in the Sunday Telegraph analysing all our hidden UK ‘taxes’
Philip Bratby, as usual, is spot on with his comments
James Evans: That’s the beauty of it as far as the Government is concerned. It’s fiendishly difficult to find out how much we are being fleeced. There are so many bits of tax and it depends on ROC rates and targets and how much the wind blows and how many offshore wind farms open etc etc. Go to http://www.ref.org.uk/ and follow the links.
@Jeremy
The law of unintended consquenses. I do not live in CA, but help out with a family fund raiser out in Imperial Valley once a year. There, we sell sodas (along with a BBQ Dinner). And the cans? Never a problem. Before they can hit the can, the homeless have already scooped them up for the tax refunde they offer!
In Va (where I do live), we do have recycling. But not the scavenging. But then we do not have taxes on containers (yet).
Theo:
“Back in 1776, the British government could not understand “No taxation without representation”
Interestingly, the Boston Tea Party occurred AFTER taxation on tea had been cut!!!
We in the UK are paying higher taxes partly because of the actions of US banks.
That said, in the UK we have representation and want all the things taxes pay for but don’t want to pay the tax, so vote for people who promise low taxes and not to cut spending.
The real beauty is that, even if you could calculate the size of the robbery, you will never work out where the money went.
As with the whole “Khmer Vert” movement, there is no way they could ever achieve their goals via the ballot box.
Everything must be hidden. The (UK) population would be going “Arab Spring” right now if they knew the details of the “green” robbery.
ferd berple says:
June 10, 2011 at 9:37 am
The UK can simply take the Spanish solution. Invest heavily in green technology and thereby bankrupt your economy. Germany and France will be forced to bail you out to prevent the collapse of the Euro.
Who in the UK would not relish the though of Germany and France having to pay hundreds of billions of euro’s to pay off the UK’s debts?
Ah but we’re not in the Euro are we? So they’d absolutely let us sweat it out on our own. The Germans have never forgiven us for beating them and the French have never forgiven us for saving them. Cads the lot of em!
When people are trying to avoid freezing to death turning the heater up a notch, they are paying their hard earned money to “mitigate global warming” ohh the irony…
How do we put this to a vote?
NERA: EPA rules could cost $17.8bn per year
You stripped the images: Here are the URL’s
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/images/projectone/cost_of_fuel_electricity.jpg
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/images/projectone/cost_of_fuel_gas.jpg
@paul says: June 10, 2011 at 8:34 am
“There are lots of other subsidies, hidden or otherwise for energy companies and the fossil fuel industry in the UK”
Huh??
Name one!
The following link is a breakdown, by British Gas, of the cost of electricity to the consumer in the UK
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/images/projectone/cost_of_fuel_electricity.jpg
It shows that “Government obligation to help the environment” has increased electricity prices by nearly 14% as of March 2nd 2011
@Tom in Florida
You live in a closet, or what? 731 KWh won’t run an air conditioner all month where I live. More like 1800 KWh just for the AC on a “good cents” home.