Carlisle-born minister blames Labour for rising energy bills

Energy bills have been consistently rising over the past year and have reached record levels at a time when inflation is over 10 per cent.

Average household energy bills are set to rise to around £3,000 as the end of the government’s energy grant scheme approaches.

At the Conservative Environment Network net zero conference, Mr Stuart was asked by the Guardian newspaper whether the government would take responsibility for slow take up of insulation and lack of funding for renewable energy schemes.

Mr Stuart praised the government’s actions on renewable energy schemes, saying that their approach “has been transformational since the rather dire position we inherited both on renewables and efficiency from Labour.”

The shadow climate minister, Kerry McCarthy, said: “Graham Stuart is living in a fantasy world.

"It was the Conservatives who crashed the market for onshore wind, costing British families £150 in higher bills.

“The Tories’ failure on this agenda has undermined Britain’s energy security and kept energy bills high."

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Ofgem has announced that the energy price cap has fallen by around £1,000, but bills are still expected to rise by around £500.

The energy regulator has announced that it will drop its cap on the amount energy suppliers are able to charge by around £1,000 but Cumbrian customers will pay about £500 more, as the Government’s additional support in the form of the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) only partially protects consumers from paying the full price cap.

Ofgem’s price cap is currently set at £4,279 per year for the average household, meaning the Government has probably been paying about £1,779 per year to energy suppliers on average for every household they serve between September and March.

Mr Stuart was born in Carlisle and his father was a medical consultant at the Cumberland Infirmary.