OBR Omits Billions of Green Subsidies From Budget Forecast

Buried in the small print of the OBR’s budget forecast is the news that one billion a year will be added to household energy bills

After last week’s budget (well, before actually!), the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast that green subsidies were set to increase our energy bills by £8.1 billion a year by 2030, taking the total cost to £18.6 billion.

However, the Telegraph has discovered that tucked away in their small print, the OBR has admitted this understates the likely eventual cost:

Households face paying billions more in energy bills to fund green subsidy costs that were not outlined in Rachel Reeves’s Budget last week.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) revealed in its latest economic assessment that £1 billion a year will be added to household energy bills to fund Ed Miliband’s next auction for renewables projects, known as ‘allocation round 7’ (AR7).

Costs of the scheme were not outlined in the Chancellor’s Budget. Instead, they were revealed in a footnote to the OBR’s Fiscal Outlook report released on the same day.

The revelation will cast doubt on Ms Reeves’ claims that Labour is bringing down the cost of living. It also comes amid a clash between the OBR and the Chancellor about whether she told the truth about the state of the public finances in the run-up to the Budget.