The Greens' plan to cut energy bills
Shifting green levies off electricity bills, breaking the link between power prices and gas, and scaling up home insulation — paid for through wealth taxation.
What's being proposed
The Green Party pairs its wealth-tax agenda with a set of cost-of-living measures aimed squarely at energy bills. The main strands are: moving policy costs off electricity bills (paid for through general taxation instead), which the party says would cut a typical household's electricity bill by around £156 a year; decoupling the electricity price from the price of gas, which it estimates could save at least a further £65 a year; scaling up a nationwide home-insulation (retrofit) programme to cut bills over the longer term; and bringing energy retail and water into public ownership, plus giving councils power to control rents.
Where it comes from
The Greens frame high bills as a political choice, arguing that the cost of energy and climate policy should fall on wealth taxation rather than on household bills. The figures above are the party's own estimates of the savings from the first two measures.
The case for and against
Supporters argue
- It targets bills directly and shifts costs onto wealth rather than households.
- Decoupling power from gas reflects a long-standing criticism of how UK electricity is priced.
- Insulation cuts bills durably and reduces emissions.
- Public ownership of energy retail and water is popular with many voters.
Critics argue
- Moving costs into general taxation doesn't remove them — it changes who pays, and depends on the wealth-tax revenue materialising.
- Decoupling and market reform are technically and politically complex.
- Public ownership carries up-front costs and execution risk.
Sources & further reading
- Green Party — cost-of-living and energy proposals.
- Ofgem — energy price cap and bill breakdowns.
Savings figures are the party's own estimates and depend on funding and implementation; actual bills vary. General information, not advice.