Conservatives challenge Burnham to set out plan for energy bills

• On the day Ofgem are set to hike the price cap by 13 per cent, the Conservatives demand the PM-elect explains ahead of his coronation how he will avoid Brits facing a choice between heating and eating this winter
• Labour promised to cut bills by £300 buy they have risen by nearly £300 since Labour took office, with hard-left allies of Burnham pushing for even more green spending that would drive bills higher still.
• Only the Conservatives have a fully costed plan to bring bills down immediately and deliver a stronger economy.

Today [Wednesday 30^th June 2026], the Conservative Party is calling on Andy Burnham to set out his plan to bring down the cost of household energy bills.

The Ofgem price cap is set to rise again today, as a result energy bills now sit nearly £300 higher than when Labour took office, making their promise to cut bills by £300 a complete farce. Most telling of all is that, if it were not for a £7 billion bailout from the taxpayer, bills would be up by £450, or almost 30 per cent since the election. Much of this rise lies at the door of Ed Miliband's policy choices.

Andy Burnham is surrounding himself with hard-left disciples who have previously called for large-scale green subsidies that would only add cost to people's bills. Ahead of his coronation as Labour leader, the Conservative Party is urging Burnham to come clean on whether he will continue Ed Miliband's ruinous net zero policies that have left bills higher than when Labour came to power.

The Conservative Party has set out a Cheap Power Plan that could cut people's energy bills immediately by £200. This plan includes:

1. Take VAT off energy bills.

We would take VAT off energy bills for households to cut the average electricity bill by £94 for the next three years.

1. Axe the Carbon Tax.

We would axe the Carbon Tax (UK ETS and Carbon Price Support) to cut the average electricity bill by £75. Funded by abolishing elements of Great British Energy, cutting heat pump and electric vehicle subsidies, and savings from the Warm Homes Plan.

1. Scrap Ed Miliband's old renewable subsidies.

We would scrap Ed Miliband's old renewable subsidies (Renewable Obligation levy) to cut electricity bills by £22. We would scrap these subsidies entirely, freeing up money the Chancellor is currently using to pay them through general taxation.

1. Back the North Sea to get Britain drilling.

We would get Britain drilling again in the North Sea and use extra tax revenue to ease cost of living pressures. Last year, for the first time since 1964, Britain drilled no new wells. We are calling for an end to Labour's ban on new licences, and an end to the Energy Profits Levy. Analysis shows this is losing the Exchequer £25 billion in tax revenue over the next ten years.

Rather than piling on yet more subsidy to people's bills, Andy Burnham has an opportunity to make an instant and meaningful difference to people's lives by adopting our plans.

The Conservatives are the only party with a plan to secure cheap, reliable energy for the long term, supporting families and businesses and providing the power to Get Britain Working Again.

Claire Coutinho MP, Shadow Energy Secretary, said:

Andy Burnham must set out his plan to bring down the cost of household energy bills.

Ed Miliband promised to cut energy bills by £300, but instead they have gone up and by £300 instead. If it wasn't for a £7 billion bailout from the taxpayer, then they'd be up by £450. Yet despite this record of failure, Andy Burnham is set to promote him to Chancellor.

Our Cheap Power Plan would cut energy bills for households and businesses by 20 per cent by scrapping Government taxes and levies on bills and it wouldn't cost the taxpayer a penny. We have to put cheap energy first.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Energy bills have risen under Labour:

• Labour promised to cut energy bills by £300 but they will rise by £294. The energy price cap for July to September 2024 was £1,568 compared to £1,862 for July to September 2026, a £294 increase (Ofgem, Energy price cap unit rates and standing charges, accessed on 29 June 2026, link).

• Labour's energy bill reduction measure did nothing to support business, instead only moving costs from household bills to general taxation.At the Spring Statement, the Chancellor announced a package which included an £88 saving by moving 75 per cent of the cost of ROCs onto general taxation from energy bills for households and a £59 saving by not renewing the Energy Company Obligation which was funded through a levy on household bills (HMT, Budget 2025, 28 November 2025, link).

Andy Burnham wants greater green subsidies which would land on people's energy bills:

• Ed Miliband and Miatta Fahnbulleh are both reported to be working on Andy Burnham's policy proposals, of which an expansion of subsided green energy is an issue they have advocated for. Ed Miliband MP is reportedly playing a central role in developing economic policy for Andy Burnham's incoming government and is described by a senior Burnham ally as feeding key proposals, particularly those with fiscal implications, directly into the transition team. Miliband's defining policy has been Great British Energy and an increase in people's energy bills since coming to office. Alongside Miliband, Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, a former minister in Miliband's own Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, has been helping Burnham prepare for power and is expected to take a key role shaping his economic agenda. Fahnbulleh shares Miliband's stance on net zero and has called for a mass programme of home insulation, ramped-up publicly owned renewable energy, and a free basic energy allowance for households using limited quantities of energy, with higher costs for heavier users covered by the taxpayer (Times, 25 June 2026, link; Sky News, 31 May 2024, link; Telegraph, 24 June 2026, link).

The Conservative Party has put forward our Cheap Power Plan to cut energy bills immediately:

• The Conservatives will cut the average electricity bill by £94 by removing VAT from energy bills for households for the next three years. Based on Cornwall Insight forecasts of the energy price cap for July 2026, removing the 5 per cent VAT levied on bills would save £94. HM Trasury has previously costed this measure at £2.2 billion. Over the next three years, this could be funded by ending renewables subsidies, 75 per cent of the cost of which Labour shifted onto taxpayers at the Budget. (Cornwall Insight, accessed 27 March 2026, link; HMRC, Non-structural tax relief statistics (December 2024), 5 December 2024, link).

• The Conservatives will axe the Carbon Tax for electricity generation, cutting the average electricity bill by £75. The Carbon Tax (the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and Carbon Price Support (CPS)) will be scrapped for electricity generation. This will reduce wholesale electricity prices by around 30 per cent, or around £26 per MWh. The ETS and CPS are taxes that are charged on gas power stations when they generate electricity, which are passed straight through to households and businesses in their energy bills (Conservative Party Analysis of DESNZ data, 26 September 2025).

• The Conservatives will scrap Ed Miliband's extortionate old renewable subsidies, cutting electricity bills by £22 and saving taxpayers money. The Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) scheme pays subsidies to wind and solar farms and other renewable generators, who are paid up to three times the market price of electricity. These subsidies are paid by every household and almost all businesses through their electricity bills and partially through taxation. The ROC subsidies are reliant on primary legislation, meaning they can be stopped at any point (Ofgem, Policy cost allowance methodology, accessed 27 March 2026, link).

• The Conservatives will back the North Sea to generate billions in additional tax revenue a year. Analysis by independent investment bank Stifel has shown that the Energy Profits Levy and ban on new licences is making the basin uninvestable, losing the Exchequer £25 billion in tax revenue over the next ten years. Labour's ban on new oil and gas licences called time on Britain's oil and gas industry leaving 2.9 billion barrels in the ground and risking 200,000 jobs. We will extract this oil and gas, creating £165 billion in economic value (Stifel, Written Evidence to ESNZ Select Committee, January 2026, link; OEUK, Key facts, accessed 31 August 2025, link; OEUK, Press Release, 23 June 2025, link).

• The Conservatives will repeal the Energy Profits Levy to maximise investment in British oil and gas production. The Energy Profits Levy, an additional 38 per cent levy on the upstream production of oil and gas, is set to expire on 31 March 2030. The Conservatives have pledged to remove it once elected and called on the government to remove it immediately (HMRC, Policy Paper, 30 October 2024, link).

• The Conservatives will replace the North Sea Transition Authorities (NSTA) mandate to maximise the extraction of our oil and gas'. The NSTA requires oil and gas companies to fulfil a range of net zero obligations such as connecting oil rigs to the grid and reducing flaring, venting, and emissions. We will change this to one sole mandate of maximising oil and gas extraction and rename the NSTA to the North Sea Authority (The Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2025, link).

• The Conservatives will reverse the ban on government support for the export of oil and gas technology to unlock billions in oil and gas technology exports. UK Export Finance (UKEF) supported on average £5 billion of oil and gas technology exports annually before government support for it was banned. We will reverse this ban to create jobs and unlock billions of exports (The Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2025, link).