Team Lopez – Julia Lopez MP has welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement of government support to help protect households from rising energy costs.
The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak MP, today announced that millions of households will receive up to £350 to help with the cost of living following a rise in the energy price cap. The three-point plan announced by the Treasury is outlined below.
1 – The Energy Bills Rebate will provide around 28 million households with an upfront discount on their bills worth £200. Energy suppliers will apply the discount to domestic electricity customers from October, with the Government meeting the costs. The discount will then be automatically recovered from people’s bills in equal £40 instalments over the next five years. This will begin from 2023, when global wholesale gas prices are expected to come down.
2 – Households in England, which are in council tax bands A-D, will also receive a £150 rebate. The rebate to bills will be made directly by local authorities from April. This will not need to be repaid. This one-off payment will benefit around 80 per cent of all homes in England and is £1 billion more generous and more targeted towards lower-income families than a VAT cut on energy bills.
3 – On top of this discount, discretionary funding of £144 million will also be provided to support vulnerable people and individuals on low incomes that do not pay Council Tax, or that pay Council Tax for properties in Bands E-H.
The support package comes after energy regulator Ofgem today announced an increase to the energy price cap as a result of the soaring global wholesale price of gas, which has quadrupled in the past year.
This will see almost a £700 increase in energy bills for the average household from April 1 - but, as a result of the targeted Energy Bills Rebate, the vast majority of households will receive £350 to reduce this cost.
The Chancellor also today confirmed plans to go ahead with existing proposals to expand eligibility for the Warm Home Discount by almost a third so that three million vulnerable households will now benefit, as well as the planned £10 uplift to £150 from October. This follows a consultation by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to reform the policy so that more people will benefit.
Further information can be viewed on the Treasury’s website - Millions to receive £350 boost to help with rising energy costs - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Please also find below a Dear Colleague letter from the Chancellor with more information.