The Budget sets out key measures to support households with energy bills and strengthen the UK's energy security.
Measures to support households with their bills and increase the country’s energy security and independence are at the heart of the Budget announced by the Chancellor.
With Putin’s illegal war raging in Ukraine, Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps said the moves will be vital to help people until global gas prices fall further as expected.
Delivering on the Prime Minister’s priorities to ease the cost of living and grow the economy, the Chancellor set out new bold commitments to extend energy bill support for households and to invest in carbon capture, low carbon hydrogen and nuclear as part of a ‘clean energy reset’ to ensure the UK’s energy security in the long term.
The new commitments support the Energy Security Secretary’s ambition for Britain to have among the lowest wholesale electricity prices in Europe by 2035, driving economic growth in the longer term while strengthening the UK’s energy security and independence.
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Grant Shapps said:
This Budget supports both our immediate and longer-term priorities – bringing energy bills down and keeping them down, while also setting Britain on a path to greater energy security and independence.
Not only will this help achieve our mission for wholesale electricity prices to be among the cheapest in Europe, but it will also help grow our economy through new cutting-edge industries, supporting investment and creating jobs.
Providing energy bills support for households
The Chancellor set out further support to ease cost-of-living pressures on households, including keeping energy bills down to help reduce inflation, and ending the premium that over 4 million households pay on their prepayment metre.
Extending energy bills support
- The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) will remain at £2,500 for an additional 3 months from April to June
- energy prices are 50% lower than forecast in October, but remain higher than they were before the war in Ukraine, meaning this support will help bridge the gap for families ahead of an expected fall in prices in July
- the Energy Price Guarantee protects customers from increases in energy costs by limiting the amount suppliers can charge per unit of energy used
- this follows previous government support provided over this winter which has already cut the typical household energy bill by almost half
Ending the ‘prepayment penalty’
- The government is taking action to end the ‘prepayment penalty’, introducing fairness reforms to energy bills to remove the premium paid by households using prepayment meters (PPMs)
- this will cut energy bills for over 4 million families across the UK by bringing their costs into line with those paid by comparable customers on direct debits, saving them £45 a year on energy bills. The change is expected to come into effect from July 1 through updates to the Energy Price Guarantee
Delivering a clean energy ‘reset’
To shield households from high energy bills in the future, there will be a ‘reset’ to clean up the UK’s domestic energy supply and boost long term energy security. This will help achieve the Energy Security Secretary’s mission for the UK to have among the cheapest wholesale electricity prices in Europe.
[[Source]]: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/support-for-households-and-energy-security-at-the-heart-of-budget
