A levy of £120 that was due to be added onto all households’ energy bills has been removed from the Government’s Energy Bill following a vote in the House of Commons yesterday.

The Government’s proposed hydrogen levy has been highly controversial, attracting opposition from the Conservative Environment Network as well as right-wing Tories, opposition parties and fuel poverty campaigners.

Last week, Grant Shapps, then Energy Secretary, announced the Government would table an amendment to the Energy Bill to scrap the levy, and this amendment was passed on Parliament’s first day back from recess.

The move has been welcomed by green groups. David Cowdrey, Director of External Affairs at the MCS Foundation, said “The scrapping of the hydrogen levy is a very welcome step towards affordable and clean energy for all. The levy would have been a regressive extra tax on already-struggling households, and would have hampered the race to get renewable energy in every home.

“We now need the Government to take the next step towards fair electricity pricing by decoupling its costs from gas. Doing so would cut electricity bills in one stroke, and help more households switch to heat pumps by making them cheaper than gas boilers to run.”

The Energy Bill will still need to go through the House of Lords, but with peers having previously voted to remove the hydrogen levy and all parties now opposed to it, it is now certain that the hydrogen levy will not be introduced.