Economists demand urgent action on energy bills to avert ‘catastrophe’
Physical and financial harm will be caused to millions of vulnerable families unless the government takes action to avert a winter catastrophe by cutting energy bills, leading economists have warned.
In the run-up to the announcement of the new energy price cap tomorrow the Resolution Foundation thinktank said radical policies such as price freezes, solidarity taxes or lower social tariffs were needed to prevent the cost of living crisis worsening.
Pressure on the government to act also came from disability charities and the business lobby group, the British Chambers of Commerce, which warned of widespread company failures without Covid-style emergency support.
The BCC said time was running out as it outlined a five-point plan to soften the impact of rising energy costs.
The calls came as the energy regulator Ofgem is preparing to reveal a new price cap for October that is likely to rise from just under £2,000 a year to more than £3,500 a year. The cap was at £1,277 last October, meaning bills will have more than doubled in a year.
Labour said neither Liz Truss nor Rishi Sunak had come up with serious proposals, after the rivals to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister rejected calls by the head of Scottish Power for a two-year freeze on energy bills costing £100bn.
Sunak said he was “nervous and sceptical” about the plan, while a government source close to the Truss campaign said the proposal was “irrelevant” because both candidates had ruled out a price freeze.
Families caring for a child or adult with disabilities have been left “frustrated” by the cost of living crisis, with more than 70% having been plunged into debt, according to research for the national disability charity Sense. Four in five (83%) disabled households
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