GOOD Energy's chief executive Nigel Pocklington has slammed Liz Truss' plan to impose a moratorium on green levies, dismissing the policy as "nonsensical".

The Tory leadership contender and foreign secretary has called for green levies - a batch of policies attached to energy bills designed to improve the environmental sustainability of energy consumption - to be temporarily halted to help drive down energy bills, with the consumer price cap expected to climb over £3,500 per year this coming winter.

Pocklington accused Truss of "tinkering around the edges", given the scale of the crisis, which he argued has been chiefly driven by soaring natural gas prices.

He told City A.M.: "Frankly, I find Liz Truss' policy pronouncement on this nonsensical - it will increase bills and it's not properly engaging with the detail of it."

He argued that if it were not for high levels of renewable electricity now within the grid, bills "would be even more expensive" because renewables were now the cheapest way of generating power.

Commenting on green levies, Pocklington noted they did more than help fund plans to decarbonise the country's energy supply to reach net zero targets.

Instead of halting green levies, which also include social programmes such as the Warm Home Discount that provides one-off payments to ease bills for vulnerable energy users, Pocklington called for a ramp-up in energy efficiency and further support for households.

A spokesperson for Liz Truss said: "The one year temporary moratorium on energy levies is a necessary and immediate step to ease the financial burden on families struggling with soaring energy bills."

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper