Official estimates show that subsidies to pay for new wind, solar and nuclear plants in the UK will treble by 2030 and ‘green’ levies on energy bills will more than double by 2020.

Currently, every household pays £68 a year to subsidise renewable energy projects such as wind farms, solar panels and biomass plants and to fund carbon taxes – about 5% of an average annual energy bill of £1,369.

However, this sum is expected to rise significantly to fund more wind farms, new nuclear plants and new schemes to ensure that there are enough back-up power plants. Such levies are forecast to total £141 a year by 2020 (11% of an annual bill of £1,319) and £226 by 2030 (15% of an annual bill of £1,524).

Ministers insist that the overall effect of all Government policies will be to leave energy consumers significantly better off, due to efficiency schemes and other regulations that should result in households using less energy.

A typical household’s gas usage is expected to fall by 5% and its electricity usage by 14% by 2020: it is claimed that this is likely to outweigh the cost of all the ‘green’ levies.