# What renewables support costs you url: https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/renewables-levies/ updated: 22 September 2026 licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) publisher: Tekstak Ltd [Where your money goes](/) › Household energy # What renewables support costs you Last updated 22 September 2026. Figures refresh every night. [How each figure is worked out](/methodology/). Renewables support costs a typical household about **£150 a year**, roughly £13 a month, across three schemes: the Renewables Obligation, Contracts for Difference and Feed-in Tariffs. Since April 2026 most of the largest of them is paid from general taxation rather than bills, so it no longer shows on your bill — but you still pay it. Nationally the three schemes cost around £12bn a year. Figures checked by hand on 22 September 2026. Figure as of 22 September 2026. Source: [House of Commons Library](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10505/CBP-10505.pdf). ## What do the schemes cost? £150 Per typical household a year, bill and tax combined Figure as of 22 September 2026. Source: [House of Commons Library](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10505/CBP-10505.pdf). Checked by hand 22 September 2026. £12.50 The same thing per month Figure as of 22 September 2026. Source: [House of Commons Library](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10505/CBP-10505.pdf). Checked by hand 22 September 2026. £12bn+ National cost a year, all three schemes Figure as of 22 September 2026. Source: [House of Commons Library](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10505/CBP-10505.pdf). Checked by hand 22 September 2026. 2037 When the last Renewables Obligation payments end Figure as of 22 September 2026. Source: [House of Commons Library](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10505/CBP-10505.pdf). Checked by hand 22 September 2026. **What renewables support costs a typical household each year** **The numbers behind this chart** | Scheme | What it pays for | National cost | On the bill | Through tax | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Renewables Obligation | A top-up for every unit generated by older wind farms, solar parks and biomass plants. Closed to new projects; payments run to 2037. | £8.5bn+ (2026/27 forecast) | £22 | £67 | | Contracts for Difference | A guaranteed price for newer offshore wind, solar and nuclear. When the market price is above the guaranteed price, generators pay the difference back. | £2.3bn (2024/25) | £40 | £0 | | Feed-in Tariffs | Payments to small generators, mostly rooftop solar installed 2010-2019. | ~£2bn | £20 | £0 | Figure as of 22 September 2026. Source: [House of Commons Library](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10505/CBP-10505.pdf). [Work out your own energy bill](https://howlongisit.co.uk) ## What are the three schemes? | Scheme | What it pays for | National, per year | Typical household, per year | How you pay | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Renewables Obligation | A top-up for every unit generated by older wind farms, solar parks and biomass plants. Closed to new projects; payments run to 2037. | £8.5bn+ (2026/27 forecast) | £89: £22 on the bill, £67 through tax | Bill and general taxation | | Contracts for Difference | A guaranteed price for newer offshore wind, solar and nuclear. When the market price is above the guaranteed price, generators pay the difference back. | £2.3bn (2024/25) | £40 | Electricity bill | | Feed-in Tariffs | Payments to small generators, mostly rooftop solar installed 2010-2019. | ~£2bn | £20 | Electricity bill | Household figures are for typical electricity use. Households use only around a third of the country's electricity; businesses pay the rest through their own bills and pass it on in prices, so the true household cost is higher than the bill line alone. ## What moved from bills to taxation? From April 2026 the Energy Company Obligation stopped being charged on bills and 75% of the Renewables Obligation cost moved to the Treasury, together worth about £150 a year to a typical household. Policy costs on the bill are now about 5% of a typical bill, down from around 15%. The money is still being spent; it now comes out of general taxation rather than the energy bill, which changes who pays rather than how much. ## Are the schemes good value? ### The case that they cost too much - Renewables Obligation contracts were generous and index-linked, and run for another decade. - Over £13bn has been paid out under Contracts for Difference since the scheme started. - Moving costs to taxation hides them rather than reducing them. - They sit on top of rising grid costs to connect and balance the same generators. ### The case that they are good value - During the 2022 crisis, Contracts for Difference generators paid money back, cutting bills. - One estimate puts wholesale power at around £100/MWh without contracted wind, against £76 now. - Newer contracts are far cheaper than the old Renewables Obligation. - Less exposure to imported gas prices, which caused the last two price spikes. ## What other levies are on the bill? The Warm Home Discount, a £150 rebate for low-income households, is funded by everyone else's bills. There are also charges for the Capacity Market, which pays power stations to be on standby, and a levy to fund new nuclear. Carbon pricing is the least visible: gas power stations pay for their emissions at £18 a tonne on top of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, and that cost is built into the wholesale electricity price. ## Common questions How much do green levies cost per household? About £150 a year for a typical household, counting both what appears on the bill and what is now paid through general taxation.What is the Renewables Obligation? A top-up for every unit generated by older wind farms, solar parks and biomass plants. Closed to new projects; payments run to 2037.Did green levies come off bills? Partly. From April 2026 the Energy Company Obligation and 75% of the Renewables Obligation moved to general taxation, worth about £150 a year on a typical bill. The cost did not disappear; taxpayers fund it instead. ## Use this data Everything on this page is published under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). You may republish it, including commercially, if you credit Tekstak Ltd and link back to this page. ### Embed the live figure Paste this into your page. It updates itself every night and links back here. Embed code ## Sources for this page | Source | Publisher | Figures as of | Updated | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [House of Commons Library, what makes up an electricity bill (May 2026)](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10505/CBP-10505.pdf) | House of Commons Library | 22 September 2026 | annual | ## Related questions - [How much of my energy bill is tax?](/tax-on-energy-bills/) - [Why is UK electricity so expensive?](/why-uk-electricity-is-expensive/) - [What is the energy price cap, and what is it now?](/energy-price-cap/) - [How do UK electricity prices compare with other countries?](/uk-vs-world-electricity-prices/) ## Share this page - WhatsApp - X - Facebook - LinkedIn - Reddit - Email - ## Related pages - [How much of my energy bill is tax?](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/tax-on-energy-bills/) - [Why is UK electricity so expensive?](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/why-uk-electricity-is-expensive/) - [What is the energy price cap, and what is it now?](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/energy-price-cap/) - [How do UK electricity prices compare with other countries?](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/uk-vs-world-electricity-prices/) ## More from this publisher - [UK tax calculators](https://howlongisit.co.uk) - [Work out your own figure with our UK tax calculators](https://howlongisit.co.uk) Published by Tekstak Ltd under CC BY 4.0. Figures last updated 22 September 2026.