Last week, there was an announcement from DESNZ about THE HYDROGEN LEVY which is a new tax designed to cause problems for Green Hydrogen, similar to the ridiculous Carbon Levies that we have endured over the last 3 decades.
Now we find the official name for the Hydrogen Levy is 'GSO or Gas Shipper Obligation'.
This new tax is meant to fund the Hydrogen Allocation Rounds (HARs) that have been defined by DESNZ over several years without much happening, a very disappointing approach to make UK a leader in Green Hydrogen. It would have been far better if the Government had visited China to see how ;hydrogen businesses can be incentivised in a capitalist way, making China the number one country in the world in a short time, overtaking UK during 3 months of 2018.
GSO will be started in 2027, replacing the present exchequer financing. This policy reminds us that hydrogen cars will be taxed this year, along with battery electric vehicles which are quite different. Since there are only about 500 hydrogen vehicles in UK, this tax policy is obtuse, expensive and ludicrous in terms of tax revenues that are significant. Let's hope that GSO is not in the same class.