HOUSEHOLDS will have to pay £55 a year more for gas and electricity as the price of curbing global warming under government proposals announced yesterday.

The plans included more than doubling the number of windfarms, with around 5,000 more turbines being built. The Government will change planning laws to prevent windfarm plans being undermined by local objections.

The Government admitted that the switch to renewable energy will push up household electricity bills by up to 15 per cent, and gas bills by up to 5 per cent. The increase amounts to an average of £55 per household per year.

The Government also promised to remove the right for homeowners to change gas and electricity suppliers with 28 days’ notice to give energy companies more incentive to help customers to install insulation and double glazing.

Tony Blair yesterday confirmed a target of curbing carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. The Government hopes to boost renewable energy to 10 per cent of all electricity supplies by 2010, and double it again by 2020. Around 70 per cent will come from wind turbines, with smaller amounts from solar power. Building new nuclear power stations was ruled out.

Yesterday’s energy White Paper, Our Energy Future — Creating a Low Carbon Economy, reinforced a range of existing initiatives to promote wind power. By 2010, renewable energy will get an effective subsidy of £1 billion a year.

There are already about 1,000 wind turbines in Britain, and another 1,000 are planned for the next two years.

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