Stuart Machin, the boss of Marks & Spencer, has accused Labour of pushing up energy bills, stating that government levies now make up more than half of the retailer's energy costs. He said these extra costs have nothing to do with the price of oil or gas. The UK faces the biggest hit to economic growth from the Iran war of any major economy, according to a warning from the OECD.
From next month, charges have been added to business energy bills to help pay for the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power station and more electricity pylons. These increases will come hand-in-hand with hikes to national minimum wages while many firms will also have to fork out higher business rates from April. The British Retail Consortium is lobbying the Government to focus on its energy policy and the pipeline of additional policy costs that are about to impact businesses.
Over the last few years the 'policy costs' on our energy bill have skyrocketed.
Michael Kill, the chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, said such energy levies were feeding into prices paid by consumers. A Government spokesman said that businesses across Britain will be concerned about the impact on their energy bills from events in the Middle East, adding that wholesale costs are the single largest component of energy prices. The spokesman also stated that the mission for clean power by 2030 will get the UK off the roller-coaster of fossil fuel prices, to cut bills for businesses and households for good.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has promised targeted support for some households with their energy bills. It is expected that shoppers will start to see the impact of the war at the supermarket tills in the coming months.
These are the tariffs that [the Government] place on our bills to fund their policies, and have nothing to do with the price of oil or gas. They now make up over half our bill. It’s just not sustainable for UK businesses.