Second home owners will get double energy bill rebate, Rishi admits

RISHI SUNAK admitted last night that people with more than one home would get energy bill rebates they do not need.

The Chancellor insisted that his £21billion support package was the best way to help less well-off families struggling with the soaring cost of living.

Under the measures, every household will get a £400 discount on their property’s energy bills in October, funded in part by a £5billion windfall tax on oil and gas firm.

The Treasury Committee said this would see 172,000 second home owners receive an £800 discount and 61,000 people with three properties benefit by £1,200.

Mr Sunak admitted: ‘Yes, you’re actually right. There will be some people who don’t need the help.’

The Chancellor said no policy was perfect but this was ‘the most effective way to get support to a very large number of people in a way that would be timely and help them where they need to’.

Mr Sunak, who with his wife owns a string of properties, said he would donate his own discount to charity.

Asked if he was leaving the door open to future intervention if prices keep rising, Mr Sunak said he ‘always tried to be responsive to the economic situation’.

He said the ‘structure of what we have put in place is by definition temporary’ and will have a ‘minimal impact on inflation’.

Of his change of heart on the case for a windfall tax, the Chancellor said when companies are ‘making extraordinary profits... it’s reasonable to think, well actually, we should tax those profits fairly’.