As UK households feel pressure, how are other European countries tackling energy crisis?
In the next week Great Britain’s energy regulator will announce the steepest rise ever in its energy price cap, effectively saddling millions of households with an annual energy bill of close to £2,000.
The blow to household finances follows almost six months of record high energy market prices because of the global gas crisis. Despite the deepening gloom facing bill payers, ministers are yet to agree a package of measures to prevent a national energy crisis.
After a fourfold surge in energy market prices across Europe, households will pay an average of 54% more for energy this year than in 2020, according to Bank of America. The bank warned that the biggest increases would be felt by Italy and the UK.
While European governments have moved to protect households from the full brunt of the global energy crisis, the UK government has remained silent. The UK’s failure to act comes despite desperate calls from groups representing vulnerable households, small businesses and economists, which fear that record high energy bills threaten to unlock economy-wide inflation and a cost of living crisis.
In Great Britain the next energy price increase is scheduled to be announced on 7 February, and households will be hoping that new support measures can be agreed before it takes effect from 1 April.
Potential measures include cutting the 5% rate of VAT on energy bills, or moving the policy costs levied on energy bills to general taxation. More radical ideas include setting up a “stabilisation mechanism” to give top-up payments to energy suppliers depending on the market price. The Labour party has thrown its weight behind a plan to subsidise bills by introducing a windfall tax on the profits made by North Sea oil and gas producers during
Read more on theguardian.com
