From 1 April 2026, the energy price cap has fallen, and the average household on a standard variable tariff will pay roughly £117 a year less. That is welcome news, and it is worth acknowledging when bills go down. But look behind the headline number, and the long-term picture is more troubling: the cost of net zero infrastructure is piling up in the same bill, just in a different column.
Why Bills Are Falling Now
The immediate reduction is driven by a technical change: the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) levy is being removed from bills, and 75 per cent of Renewables Obligation costs are being moved onto general taxation. The electricity unit rate is down 10.9 per cent. The standing charge is up 4.5 per cent. Net effect: a household saves about £117 over the year.
That is real money for real families, and nobody should pretend it isn't. But notice what just happened. The government has not made energy cheaper. It has moved the cost from your bill to your tax bill. You will still pay for the renewables subsidies — you just won't see them on the energy bill any more. Sleight of hand, dressed up as savings.
£65 of New Infrastructure Costs — and More Coming
The energy regulator has been clear: the cost of essential infrastructure is estimated to add around £65 to bills from April, with further costs to follow over the next five years. Why? Because the grid needs to be upgraded to meet the predicted demand of an economy increasingly reliant on electricity — heat pumps, electric vehicles, electrified industry, and data centres.
The core assumption behind the current approach is that electricity demand will rise rapidly as gas boilers, petrol cars, and industrial gas use are phased out. That may or may not turn out to be true on the timetable ministers are assuming. What is certain is that bill-payers are being asked to fund the bet now.
Net Zero Is Not Free — And Bill-Payers Are Footing the Invoice
This is where I part company with the orthodoxy. You can support sensible environmental policy — cleaner air, more efficient energy use, less waste — without accepting that every bill-payer in the country should fund an open-ended grid rebuild on an arbitrary political timetable.
The costs so far have been hidden by rolling them into standing charges, levies, and infrastructure allowances that most consumers don't see line-by-line. As the spending scales up, those costs cannot stay hidden forever. Ofgem itself is flagging the issue. The public deserves an honest conversation about how much net zero will cost the average household, who is paying for it, and what the benefits actually are on the timescale being used.
The Real Test Is What Happens Next Winter
The current reduction is partly a function of wholesale gas prices easing. When wholesale prices rise again — and they will — every layer of policy cost baked into the system will show up faster. The price cap will rise. Ministers will blame global markets, not their own policy decisions.
We have been here before. Remember when we were told the answer to high bills was more renewables? And then bills stayed high? The honest answer is that a reliable, secure, affordable energy system needs to include domestic gas, nuclear baseload, and sensible use of renewables — balanced in that order. Not whichever option happens to be politically fashionable this month.
What Reform UK Would Do
Reform UK would be honest about the cost of net zero and would slow the timetable to something that bill-payers can actually afford. We would lift restrictions on North Sea oil and gas, accelerate small modular nuclear reactors, and stop loading policy costs onto already-squeezed households.
Cheaper energy is not a political slogan. It is the foundation of a productive economy and the difference between a warm home and a cold one for millions of people. This government has delivered a headline saving this April by moving costs around. Reform UK would deliver a real saving by getting serious about supply.