HOUSEHOLDS are set to pay a £170 green energy levy again from next month.
Rishi Sunak faces a furious backlash as it emerged that the extra whack will go onto bills again as the government’s energy support falls away.
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Bills will still fall by around £500 a year from July as the cost of energy gets cheaper, the Government say.
But the cost of the levies will go from the Government coughing it up, back to bill payers again.
It was paused by Liz Truss last year as part of her huge £70billion energy bill bailout, where she announced an energy price cap to help hard-up households.
Ministers will temporarily stop paying for energy bill help as the prices will fall below it – though it could come back later this year.
But now the price cap is set to fall, the levies will return to bills – costing around £170 out of the average £2,000 bill.
The extra cash goes towards renewable green programmes, and helping lower paid Brits get energy help.
Treasury Minister John Glen admitted they were eying up the move.
Mr Glen told Sky News: “We are making assessments all the time of how we can deal with the challenges of supply across the UK and the different input costs. I can’t confirm those this morning, but we are looking carefully at everything.”
But last night Tories called on ministers to continue to waive the fees to help hard-pressed families.
Ex-Business Secretary Jacob Rees Mogg said: “Any new or re-imposed charge ought to be announced to parliament first and not slipped through slyly.”
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Greg Smith, the MP for Buckingham, said there is “no place” for the charge on utility bills, insisting it is “not fair to financially punish people in this way”.
And Tory MP Craig Mackinlay said it was the “wrong time” to whack Brits with extra charges during a cost of living crisis.
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.
Meanwhile, it comes as thousands of households have just days left to get up to £400 in free cash for energy bills.
The deadline for prepayment meter customers to claim the help is fast approaching and those eligible should act now.
