"Energy Secretary Ed Davey dodges his own green taxes"

[dutchman]

Energy Secretary Ed Davey is dodging his own green taxes – by switching his gas and electricity supplier to a company exempt from the charges slapped on domestic bills.



The Cabinet Minister is now spared from paying the average £112-a-year ‘green duty’ added to most domestic bills after he moved his account to a firm that does not have to pay it.

Last night, a senior Tory MP accused Lib Dem Mr Davey of ‘tax avoidance’ by ‘finding a way’ to escape the levies.

Mr Davey recently changed from Sainsbury’s Energy to Green Star Energy to supply gas and electricity to his Kingston constituency home.

Green Star – which, despite its name, is not an eco-certified company – does not have to pay green taxes because it is a new firm with fewer than 250,000 customers. Its average household bill is just over £1,009 a year, compared with Sainsbury’s average of £1,264 – meaning Mr Davey could potentially save about £255 annually.

The average standard bill across all energy suppliers is around £1,346. Green sceptic Peter Lilley, a Tory member of the energy and climate change committee, said last night: ‘He is paying less than most people as he is not being hit with those levies, it is as simple as that. He has found a way to avoid this unfair burden on families which his own department is inflicting. It is a form of tax avoidance.’

Smaller firms also do not have to pay for the Energy Company Obligation, which costs customers about £47 a year towards the cost of funding insulation for low-income households.

And they are exempt from the Warm Homes Scheme, which offers extra support to anyone struggling to afford their energy bills, such as the elderly.