UK's green stealth tax

Where DO they come up with this stuff?  I read the same stories again and again, only with different names and places.  Evidently the goal is to make everyone in the world SMART.  If being "Smart" was a disease, we would need a vaccine, because being "Smart" makes people dumb.  To be "Smart" means one has to thinks less critically and and favor increased government control over individual behavior - even if the effort will not work.

This article is 4 years old, but see how many parallels there are to what is happening in the U.S. and Oregon.  There are new plans for additional energy taxes and fees for Oregonians, so England's experience can show us what to expect.

One item did intrigue me though - the billions of British pounds being spent to convert to "Smart" electric meters.  The reasons given don't justify the cost - to get rid of estimated billing and to let people know how much energy they consume.  The data for everyone's energy usage is going to a central location, and the meters are supposed to lead to improved conservation.  It seems that this is a way for government, not homeowners to monitor usage.  After all, the electric bill will tell consumers every month how much energy they used, and there are much better ways to encourage conservation than billions spent on "Smart" meters.  This program fails the logic test.

The Daily Mail, December 14, 2010
The £92 green stealth tax: Family fuel bills will soar to fund the fight against climate change


Millions of families will be hit with an extra £92 on their annual fuel bills to pay for a 'green energy revolution', ministers admitted yesterday.


The levies will help pay for renewable

energy to tackle climate change.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said tough targets to cut carbon emissions would require 'comprehensive changes' to the way we work, live and travel.

Ministers have also pledged to create a greener transport system by introducing a network of electric trains, discounts on electric hybrid cars and low carbon buses. 


Energy companies will be told to subsidise the cost of rising bills for poor people and the elderly by charging better off customers more.


The White Paper follows the Government's pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 34 per cent within 11 years and by 80 per cent within 40 years. The UK also faces tough European targets to ensure that at least 30 to 40 per cent of Britain's electricity will be generated by wind, solar, wave and tidal power by 2020. 


Only three percent of the U.K.'s electricity currently comes from renewable sources.

But Matthew Sinclair, research director at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'The last thing that the Government should be doing right now is pushing up electricity bills even more to line the pockets of renewable energy firms.'

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