There will be no extra help for people to pay their energy bills after April, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said, with the energy cap set to rise from £2,500 to £3,000. Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has called the increase a "national act of harm" and wrote to the Chancellor to ask what was being done.
As well as the increase in the energy bill price cap, the £400 energy bill discount for most homes will end at the start of April. The Department for Work and Pensions will continue to hand out cash already announced for pensioners and people on some benefits.
Jeremy Hunt has indicated there is no headroom for a “major new initiative” to help households with energy bills which are set to soar from April.
Asked if he was ruling out more support, the Chancellor told broadcasters at a London science facility: “We constantly keep the help we can give families under review.
“But if you’re saying ‘do I think we’re going to have the headroom to make a major new initiative to help people?’, I don’t think the situation would have changed very significantly from the autumn statement, which was just three months ago.”
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Mr Hunt said: "We always look at what else we can do. But we also have to be responsible with public finances, because if we're not, we'll just see interest rates go up, and people will face a different kind of cost, and that's why we have to get that balance right."
Asked why the Government does not halt the rise in the energy price guarantee in April, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told reporters: “We know just how tough it is for many people dealing with these huge spikes in their energy bills.
“And that’s why we’re giving about £3,500 for the average family this year and last to help with those pressures, absolutely unprecedented support.
“We always look at what else we can do, but we also have to be responsible with public finances.”
He added: “At the same time as energy prices have come down, so too have our receipts from the windfall taxes. So we have to look at everything in the context of what is responsible for public finances, because if we don’t, we’ll just see interest rates go up and then everyone who has a mortgage up and down the country will face a different kind of cost.”
