Truss: Freezing energy bills for British households for two years

London: Thanasis Gavos

At 2,500 pounds the year (2,875 euros) will be frozen for her next two years energy bills for a typical UK household, as Liz Truss announced from the floor of the House of Commons.

The new prime minister characterized the measure as “energy price guarantee” and noted that it will be effective from October 1. This means that each household will save £1,000 on their annual energy bill, as it would be from next month.

The charge limit includes the horizontal emergency aid of £400 for each household in the United Kingdom announced by the Johnson government.

A similar guarantee for energy consumption charges will also apply to businesses, but for six months. After the semester, targeted help will be offered in “vulnerable” areas, such as mainly focus, so that e.g. to enable under-threatened local pubs to cope with increased costs.

Mrs. Trass emphasized that the government “will not yield” to the official opposition’s request to finance the new measure with a tax on the surplus profits of energy companies, because “something like that would undermine the national interest.”

The government will therefore be forced to take on additional borrowing, with the total cost to be announced within weeks by new Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng. Analyst estimates so far put the cost of the announced measure at up to £150 billion.

“This is the time to be bold. We are facing a global energy crisis and there are no costless optionssaid Liz Truss.

He announced a further acceleration of the development of technologies for all clean and renewable energy sources, but also a new round of permits for the extraction of oil and natural gas from the North Sea, as well as the lifting of the ban on environmentally controversial drilling for shale gas (in areas where there will be local consent).

The Prime Minister’s third announcement was about a new government program in partnership with the Bank of England of £40 billion of liquidity for companies in the wholesale energy market.

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer pointed out in his reaction that Ms Truss had finally adopted his party’s proposal to freeze energy bills despite initial refusals.

He also criticized her for not choosing to finance the measure by taxing the surplus profits of energy companies, which she estimated at 170 billion pounds.

“The obvious consequence of this is that the bill will ultimately be footed again by working citizens,” Mr Starmer commented, referring to the prospect of excessive government borrowing.

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