‘Swansea Greenpeace volunteers tell the Government to make oil and gas giants pay, not ordinary people’

As the cost of living crisis worsens, on Saturday July 2nd, Swansea Greenpeace volunteers spoke to people in Castle Square about the connection between rising energy bills, Putin’s war, and the climate crisis. They invited the public to write down how much their energy bills have already increased. Volunteers collected 18 mess

For example; Maryann from Swansea said her average monthly bills had gone up by £100 and said she was ‘cutting down on food, and couldn’t afford to take her children swimming any more’.
Gloria Hicks from Swansea said her bills gone up by £60She said she had ‘less money for food, and that her family had to help her out’.
Paul from Swansea said his business costs had gone up, including the cost of waste removal having gone up by 20%, and this plus the extra fuel costs meant that he had to increase costs to customers, resulting in an inevitable loss of customers.
And finally Paul from Morriston said his bills gone up £20 a month and he’d stopped using heating and the oven.
Rosemary Havard-Jones, Swansea Greenpeace volunteer from Mount Pleasant said;

‘I was shocked to hear people’s stories of having to choose between heating and eating, and how many more local people are worrying about being pushed into fuel poverty when bills rise again in the autumn.Greenpeace Swanseavolunteers call on the  Government to deliver an Emergency Energy Package that stops fuelling rising energy bills, the climate crisis and Putin’s war, and on our local Westminster MPs; Geraint Davies, Tonia Antoniazzi, and Carolyn Harris, to keep the pressure on the Government until they do the right thing.’ 

On 1st April energy bills went up by an average of £700, pushing 2.5 million UK households into fuel poverty.According to data from the Welsh Government, as of last October, 196,000 households in Wales were estimated to be living in fuel poverty, equivalent to 14% of households [1]
In October bills will rise again, potentially reaching up to an estimated £2600 per year, which could put 1 in 3 households in fuel poverty, according to National Energy Action [2]. Life is only going to get harder for people in Swansea.
Although the Government has recently declared a windfall tax on oil and gas producers, this will only provide temporary relief and does nothing to address the causes of the climate or cost of living crises. Greenpeace Swansea is calling for a tax rate of 70%, which could bring in an extra £13.4bn per year. £7.9bn of this tax should go towards the six million households experiencing fuel poverty. This would leave just over £5 billion to invest in the nationwide roll out of heat pumps, insulation and other energy efficiency measures as well as increasing investment in renewable energy infrastructure [3].

Rosemary Havard-Jones continued;

‘The Government has failed to get a grip on the climate and cost of living crises. We’ll keep facing these problems for years to come while oil and gas giants pump out planet-trashing emissions and enjoy sky high profits. Join us in calling on the Chancellor to make them pay up [4].’