And over the next few days and weeks, I am sure its main competitors will announce similar price hikes — leaving Britain's unhappy householders facing annual power bills some £200 higher than they were a year ago.
Of course, the power companies will offer the normal excuses. Media-trained chief executives will point to increases in wholesale power prices, which have gone up by about 25 per cent since last winter.
Hidden green tax in fuel bills: How £200 stealth charge is slipped on to your gas and electricity bill
By David Derbyshire,
UK Daily Mail
Hidden green taxes now make up a fifth of every household’s gas and electricity bills, energy campaigners warned last night.
Cash strapped families pay an average of £200 a year in stealth levies to subsidise Britain's massive expansion of wind farms, solar panels and 'environmentally friendly' heating schemes.
Yesterday outraged campaigners called for an end to the secret subsidies and demanded power companies reveal how much their customers are paying for climate change policies.
Japan climate bill may be amended to drop 2020
Reuters
A climate bill proposed by the Japanese government may be amended to remove a reference to a 2020 goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels, the Asahi newspaper said, citing the head of a key parliamentary committee which is debating the bill.
Sakihito Ozawa, a lawmaker in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and former environment minister, has proposed three options, including removing the reference to the 2020 goal, to improve the bill's chances of passage before international climate negotiations get into full swing, the newspaper said.
The proposals came despite recent remarks from Prime Minister Naoto Kan that Japan would stick to its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.
