Sunak urged to act ahead of £1k rise in energy bills

THE boss of ScottishPower has urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help struggling families with energy costs, which are expected to soar by £1,000 in October.

Keith Anderson, chief executive of the Glasgow-based energy firm, told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme that the annual cost of energy ‘could rise as high as £2,900’, adding: ‘That is a significant price increase and will prove to be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for lots of people to afford.

‘The idea we have put forward to the Government is for those people who are hardest hit by this, to take £1,000 off their bill and then we spread the cost of that over ten years.’

Mr Anderson suggested this could be targeted at people who receive Warm Home Discount, those with a prepayment meter, or families on Universal Credit.

He added: ‘I want this in place by October because in October, if the price goes up and the bills go up by another £1,000, we will see a massive increase in the number of people who can’t afford to heat their homes.’

The UK Government said it had ‘set out a £22billion package of support, including rebates and energy bill reductions’.