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Nick Clegg has hit back at David Cameronpver his promise to 鈥渞oll back鈥� green levies on energy bills, saying the Liberal Democrats would not accept the scrapping of schemes like the Energy Companies Obligation, which is aimed at helping improve energy efficiency in the poorest households.

Speaking on the BBC鈥檚 Radio 4 Today programme this morning, the deputy prime minister said he was taken by surprise by David Cameron鈥檚 announcement, made in and that he 鈥渨ould not accept鈥� moves by the Tories to scrap green energy programmes that are funded through levies on energy bills.

He said: 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 something that I was fully expecting, and it鈥檚 not something I fully agree with, because I don鈥檛 agree with the premise that looking after the environment, securing thousands of jobs in the renewable green sector - and actually some of these levies are also used to give deductions in people鈥檚 fuel bills for two million of the poorest households in our country - I don鈥檛 accept the premise that that is the reason why bills [have gone up] - in fact, 60% of the increase in energy bills since 2010 has come from wholesale prices.

鈥淪o of course - and the prime minister and I will do this in the weeks ahead - we will stress test all these different levies.

鈥淚f we can deliver those objectives of keeping the lights on, insulating people鈥檚 homes, helping the fuel-poor, supporting our green economy for less, of course, I don鈥檛 want to see an extra penny going on people鈥檚 bills unless it鈥檚 absolutely necessary.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we will do, as we always do in the coalition - whatever our differences, we resolve them.鈥�

However, Clegg did suggest that the funding for the programmes, such as the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO), could come through general taxation, rather than consumers energy bills.

The row comes after energy companies have blamed the government鈥檚 green taxes for energy bill rises.

The government is reported to be considering slackening the ECO - which pays for the energy efficiency retrofit of homes through a charge on all energy bills - to try and ease the pressure.

The latest Department of Energy and Climate Change figures, published last week, showed that the ECO has led to the installation of 244,882 retrofit measures through to the end of August, with 215,705 properties benefitting from the installation of one or more measures through the scheme.