Households WILL be hit by crippling £170 green levy as govt refuses to extend relief

HOUSEHOLDS will be hit by a crippling £170 green levy once again as Grant Shapps refuses to extend the relief.

Billions of pounds worth of Treasury help for pricey electricity and gas will fall away at the end of July as bills tumble by about £500 a year.

PA

Households will be hit by a crippling £170 green levy once again as Grant Shapps refuses to extend the relief[/caption]

The government has paid for the levies for the last nine months but now the cost is being shifted back onto consumers — adding about £170 to the average £2,000 yearly bill.

The cash goes towards renewable green programmes, and helping lower paid Brits get energy help. But last night Tories called on ministers to continue to waive the fees.

Buckingham MP Greg Smith told The Sun: “It is preposterous that consumers are being asked to take a whopping great additional hit.

“Levies are fundamentally unfair. Utility bills should be about what you use, end of.”

And Tory MP Craig Mackinlay said it was the “wrong time” to increase costs given the huge rise in interest rates.

Downing Street said last night: “As the price cap has fallen below the energy price guarantee, customers will pay the energy rates as normal. That cap includes the green levies.

“The levies help bring down bills over time, but they help those hardest hit, with the warm homes discount, those on pension credit and on low incomes.”