Energy bill freeze welcome, but more needs to be done
LAST week the new prime minister announced her plans to tackle the rising cost of energy.
On Thursday, September 8, Liz Truss confirmed the energy price cap will be frozen at £2,500, from October 1, for the next two years.
Without intervention, the average household energy bill would have jumped 80% in the autumn, from the current £1,971 to £3,549 a year under Ofgem’s latest price cap.
Cllr Clive Jones, leader of Wokingham Borough Council and the Liberal Democrats parliamentary candidate for Wokingham, welcomed the freeze but felt more could’ve been done.
He said: “The price cap has still doubled.
“We are not making a considerable impact on people at the lower end of the income scale. It doesn’t affect people like John Redwood, but it does affect people with an income of less than £30,000, considerably.
“It really affects people with incomes of less than £60-70,000.”
Sir John Redwood, MP for Wokingham, said he had been lobbying the government to take action on the issue and is “glad they have listened”.
He is now calling for further government intervention to secure the long-term future of domestic energy.
Sir John added: “I have also urged them to increase the UK’s supply of domestic energy to reduce our dependence on dear imports from abroad.
“They have set up a special Task Force to do just this.”
The guarantee announced by Ms Truss is estimated to cost around £150 billion and Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to lay out how the support will be funded later this month.
Cllr Jones believes it should be backed by a windfall tax on energy firms.
The call for a windfall tax has been supported by Cllr Andy Croy, Labour councillor for Bulmershe and Whitegates.
He feels the “Truss Tax” will mean “the burden falling on working people”
Cllr Croy added: “Energy companies are making money hand over fist off the back of price rises caused by Putin’s war – it is totally wrong that this cost should be passed on to the British people by the Conservatives.”
The new energy price guarantee will supersede the existing price cap until 2024, the year the next general election is expected, and will apply to all households in Great Britain.
Every household in the UK will still receive the nonrepayable £400 payment from the government as part of the cost-of-living support package, which Rishi Sunak announced while chancellor.
It will be applied directly to households’ energy bills, divided into monthly instalments between October and March.
The £2,500 figure given by Ms Truss takes this rebate into account, hence why it is higher than the current price cap.