The upcoming British Prime Minister Liz Truss wants to allocate up to 130 billion pounds in the coming year and a half to protect households from significantly higher energy bills.
The Bloomberg news agency documents say she wants to block a previously announced price hike for electricity and gas and virtually freeze energy bills.
The regulator for the energy market in the United Kingdom, Ofgem, already works with maximum prices for gas and light. But those would increase by 80 percent on average consumption in October to an annual figure of £3,548, leaving many households in trouble with other fixed expenses.
According to insiders, Truss now wants the government to set a new maximum price per kilowatt hour of gas or light consumed. The government then bridges the difference with the income that energy companies would have achieved under the old system.
According to Bloomberg, the incoming prime minister also wants to support companies that are struggling with high energy costs. The Truss team is considering two options for this. For example, the government could also set a maximum price for electricity and gas for business users. In addition, the cabinet team is considering obliging energy suppliers to give a discount. The estimated cost is £40 billion over the next six months.
During her campaign for the presidency of the ruling Conservative party, Truss already promised to remove an environmental tax of around £150 from energy bills. Under her predecessor Boris Johnson, the cabinet also announced subsidies to keep household energy affordable.
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