Energy Minster Ed Miliband says energy bills are ‘too high’ – under new proposals, one in five families in Britain will get help through the Warm Home Discount scheme next winter
The news that energy bills are going up in April will be worrying for many families.
People are already struggling with bills that are too high. That is why the Government is taking action to protect families in the face of the global gas price spike that has pushed up prices ever since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
The Warm Home Discount currently gives more than three million families £150 off their energy bills. We want to provide more help for the most vulnerable in time for next winter. Under the proposals we are setting out, one in five families in Britain – a total of more than six million households – will get help through the scheme next winter.
We also need to tackle the debt burden built up during the cost-of-living crisis. Every billpayer pays the cost of managing this debt burden, so we are supporting Ofgem to act on spiralling energy debt so we can bring down energy costs for everyone.
As we do so, we are moving at pace to strengthen the energy regulator so it can act as a proper consumer champion. And we have urged Ofgem to use its existing powers to protect consumers now – including acting on standing charges, challenging inaccurate billing and ensuring compensation for the wrongful installation of prepayment meters.
All of this comes alongside the most ambitious programme of home upgrades in British history through the government’s Warm Homes Plan. Earlier this month we announced steps to ensure landlords invest in energy efficiency upgrades that will make homes warmer and bring down costs for renters.
Half of landlords do this already and we think it is fair to ask the others to do so too, lifting hundreds of thousands of people out of fuel poverty. So we are determined to make fair choices and do everything in our power to help those struggling with their energy bills. At the same time, there is an unavoidable truth, which is that there is no proper solution to rising energy bills while we remain so exposed to fossil fuels.
The main reason bills have risen again is that wholesale gas prices are up 15% since the previous energy price cap was set.
Once again, the British people are paying the price for our country being stuck on the rollercoaster of global fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators and petrostates. That is why our government is sprinting to homegrown, clean energy that we control here in Britain. And it is why, in just seven and a half months in office, we have lifted the onshore wind ban, consented large amounts of solar, begun setting up Great British Energy and delivered the most successful renewables auction in history. Every solar panel, every wind turbine and every piece of grid infrastructure we construct makes us more secure as a country and protects families from these kinds of price spikes in future. Of course, some say Britain would be better off continuing to gamble in the fossil fuel casino – vulnerable, exposed and at the mercy of geopolitical events.
But our government is determined to fix the problems facing our country, and that is what we will continue do. We will do everything we can to protect families struggling now, while driving forward with our mission for clean power – because that is the only way we can bring down bills for good.