[ad_1]
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to announce the energy bills grant as part of a package of measures to help tackle the cost of living crisis and shift attention away from the Partygate row
Image: REUTERS)
All households in Britain will get an energy bills discount of up to £400 and won’t have to pay it back, it has been reported.
Rishi Sunak is set to announce the grants plan – to be distributed by energy companies – on Thursday as part of a package to help with the soaring cost of living, according to sources.
The Chancellor will scrap a much-criticised “rebate and clawback scheme” that would have seen people get a £200 discount on energy bills from October.
Suppliers would have recouped the funds through charging more over the next five years – leading to criticism it was effectively a loan.
Government sources claim the move announced on Wednesday evening, in the wake of Partygate, could cost more than £10billion.
Boris Johnson and Number 10 is desperate to draw a line under the row in which the PM has been pictured at Covid lockdown-busting parties.
What do you think of the plans? Let us know in the comments
(
Image:
NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A windfall tax on oil and gas giants, who have benefited from globally high prices, is widely expected to help fund measures which will be targeted at the most vulnerable.
Other measures in the “mix and match” package could include further cuts to council tax bills and an increase in benefits.
However, ministers have ruled out restoring the £20 Universal Credit uplift due to fears any increase could become permanent.
Video Unavailable
Other measures which have been discussed include increases in the winter fuel allowance.
A reduction VAT on energy and fuel is not included in the plan, with any tax cuts delayed until the Autumn Budget.
Despite the additional support, most households will still face astronomical rises with energy regulator Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley’s warning energy bills will rocket by another £800 in October to £2,800.
On top of April’s increase, average bills will have risen by 119 percent in a year.
The Chancellor will need to be careful that any extra help he puts in to the economy does not add further to inflation, which is currently running at a 40-year high.
As well as the possible impact on inflation, the Chancellor’s ability to help beyond the £22 billion package already announced will also be restricted by the state of the nation’s finances.
Johnson said the hundreds of billions poured in to dealing with the Covid pandemic had left a “very difficult fiscal position”.
At a Downing Street press conference he acknowledged households “are going to see pressures for a while to come” as a result of the spike in global energy prices and supply chain problems following the pandemic.
But he said: “We will continue to respond, just as we responded throughout the pandemic.
“It won’t be easy, we won’t be able to fix everything.
“But what I would also say is we will get through it and we will get through it well.”
A spokesman for Her Majesty’s Treasury declined to comment on the reports.
Read More
Read More
[ad_2]
Source link
