Reactions to Ofgem energy price cap announcement
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Chancellor of the Exchequer The Chancellor's response to the
Ofgem energy price cap announcement is below: Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi said: “I know the energy price cap
announcement this morning will cause stress and anxiety for many
people, but help is coming with £400 off energy bills for all, the
second instalment of a £650 payment for vulnerable households, and
£300 for all pensioners. “While Putin is driving up energy prices
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Chancellor of the Exchequer The Chancellor's response to the Ofgem energy price cap announcement is below: Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi said: “I know the energy price cap announcement this morning will cause stress and anxiety for many people, but help is coming with £400 off energy bills for all, the second instalment of a £650 payment for vulnerable households, and £300 for all pensioners. “While Putin is driving up energy prices in revenge for our support of Ukraine’s brave struggle for freedom, I am working flat out to develop options for further support. This will mean the incoming Prime Minister can hit the ground running and deliver support to those who need it most, as soon as possible.” Labour Rachel Reeves MP, Labour's Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, responding to Ofgem announcing that the energy price cap will rise by 80% to £3,549 in October, said: “Today's announcement will strike fear in the heart of many families, and force many to make unthinkable choices this winter. “The Tories now face an urgent choice. “They can carry on letting oil and gas companies make huge profits whilst every family suffers with bills rising this winter. “Or they can act now and stop the energy price cap rising, by bringing in a windfall tax on those oil and gas profits. “People deserve a government that can meet the scale of this national emergency – not this spectacle of a Tory leadership race or a Prime Minister that put his out of office on months ago. “Labour is on your side, and our fully-funded plan to freeze the price cap will make sure households don’t pay a penny more this winter, saving you £1,000. “Our mission for home grown renewable energy and to insulate 19 million homes will keep bills down for the long term too. “Only Labour can give Britain the fresh start it needs.” Greenpeace In reaction to Ofgem’s energy price cap increase, announced this morning, Greenpeace UK’s energy campaigner, Georgia Whitaker, said: “When these bills start hitting doormats, the harsh reality of the UK’s dependence on gas will be laid bare. It's time the government stopped protecting the profits of fossil fuel giants and started protecting people from an energy market that's spiralling out of control. “The incoming PM must provide immediate relief to households with a freeze on energy bills and extra welfare support for those in most need, funded in part by properly taxing the astronomical profits of oil and gas companies. “The government has shackled households to sky-high bills by actively scrapping energy-saving schemes that would have reduced household bills forever, now it must rectify this costly mistake. Investing heavily in energy-saving measures, like insulation and heat pumps, and turbocharging the delivery of renewables - which are now nine times cheaper than gas - is imperative to bringing future bills down and preventing climate disaster. Unless the government focuses on getting the UK off the fossil fuels that are driving this crisis, deaths will rise alongside energy prices, and this emergency will only get worse.” Unite Commenting on Ofgem’s raising of the energy price cap to £3,549, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “We know now that rampant corporate profiteering is at the very heart of our soaring energy bills and Ofgem’s soaring price cap. Until this corporate looting of our energy networks is confronted, the fuel crisis will become more and more perilous for workers and their families.” New Unite research reveals UK’s energy giants and gas and electricity suppliers plundered our energy networks in 2021 for more than £15 billion in profits. Which? Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said: “These eye-watering increases will simply be unaffordable for households up and down the country. The government must now increase the Energy Bills Support Scheme by at least 150 per cent or risk pushing millions of households into financial distress this winter. “Consumers will rightly be worried by these huge price hikes, so energy suppliers must ensure their customer service centres are adequately resourced to resolve queries quickly and help those struggling to pay their bills. They must also work with the government to ensure that all consumers receive the support they are entitled to. “In reality, proposals such as additional financial support and freezing the price cap can only be sticking plaster solutions. It is vital that the government and regulator get a grip of this crisis by urgently undertaking a thorough, wide-ranging review of retail energy pricing - including the price cap - and supporting consumers in adopting energy efficiency measures such as home insulation.” ENDS Notes to editors Government must increase the energy bill discount this winter by at least 150 per cent, Which? warns TUC
The TUC has today (Friday) warned that the rise in the energy price cap will be a “hammer blow to family budgets” that will push millions into fuel poverty. New snap analysis from the union body shows that energy bills are now on course to rise 35 faster than wages and 57 times faster than benefits over the final quarter of this year. Wiping out pay rises The analysis also shows how record-high energy prices are wiping out the value of pay rises. Between October 2021 and October 2022, average nominal wages are set to increase by £1,470 per year. But over the same period energy bills are set to increase by £2,270 per year – leaving workers with a net loss of £800. TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Nobody should have to worry about heating their homes this winter. “But millions are facing bankrupting bills in the months ahead. “Today’s energy price rise will be hammer blow to family budgets and tip many households into fuel poverty. “Ministers must immediately cancel this catastrophic increase. This is the worst possible time for the government to go missing in action. “And to make sure energy remains affordable to everyone, they should bring the energy retail companies into public ownership.” On the need to get wages rising, Frances added: “This living standards emergency hasn’t come out of the blue. It’s been caused by years of wages not keeping pace with inflation. “If we don’t pay packets rising across the economy, working people will just keep lurching from crisis to crisis.” The TUC says that the government should set out a programme to make UK living standards more resilient and the UK economy more resistant to a future crisis. This should include:
Green Party
Responding to Ofgem’s announcement that the new energy price cap will rise to £3,549 between October and December [1], Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: “This latest rise in the price cap is a horrifying blow to households across the country and a reminder of just how broken our energy system is. “Without proper intervention, people are going to die as a result of these unaffordable energy prices. Yet the government continues to sit on its hands, offering no help and no reassurance to the millions of people who are wondering how they are going to survive this winter. “Only the government can make an intervention of the scale and speed required to help people through this crisis. We need to return the price cap back to what it was in October 2021, so that it is much more affordable for more people, and allow the government to absorb the global price rises through taxing the huge profits of the oil and gas companies. “We will then need to bring the big five energy retailers into public ownership to stabilise the market and lay the groundwork for the huge investment we need to see in renewables and insulating peoples’ homes, starting as soon as possible. [2] “But it’s not just households suffering from these price rises. After years of austerity, public services and small businesses are also at serious risk. We want to see more support for small businesses, and local authorities need to be properly funded and given the autonomy to make the best decisions for their local communities. “Ultimately, renewables are the cheapest form of energy, and the cheapest bill of all is the one you don’t have to pay because your home is well insulated and efficient. So, the way forward is clear - a nationwide home insulation scheme and large-scale investment in renewable energy. The longer the government delays on this, the longer it will put the UK at the mercy of volatile energy prices and climate damaging fossil fuels.” ENDS Notes 1 https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/aug/26/ofgem-raises-energy-price-cap-to-3549 Joseph Rowntree Foundation Following Ofgem’s announcement of their new price cap, which will see prices rise to £3549 for typical usage from October with further extreme rises forecast for January and for April, Katie Schmuecker, Principal Policy Adviser for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said: “It is simply unthinkable that the price rises announced today can go ahead without further Government intervention on a significant scale. To force the burden of rising wholesale energy prices onto households will plunge many into destitution. Millions more will face the threat of bills they simply cannot pay, homes they cannot heat and stomachs they cannot fill. “It is the job of Government to decide how the burden is fairly shared between families, businesses and the public finances. Whoever occupies number 10 next will be remembered for who they protect - they must make sure energy doesn’t become a luxury only the wealthy can afford. “People are already being pushed into heart-breaking situations, disconnecting themselves from energy, skipping showers and going without food so their children can eat. And this is before we’ve even hit the big price rise and colder weather. Households are crying out for certainty and security. “The Government must immediately respond with a comprehensive emergency package to cover the period of these extreme price rises, just as they did so creatively and quickly with furlough during the early stages of the pandemic. “The crucial tests will be whether help is weighted toward the worst off, whether it is sufficiently large in scale and and whether it covers the period of high prices – which now look set to last into next winter. This will buy some breathing space to fix the underlying problems of the energy market, and a social security system that has been hollowed out by a decade of cuts and freezes.” |