Energy bills will push millions into unmanageable debt, MPs warn

theguardian.com:

Millions of people will be plunged into “unmanageable” debt this winter unless the government comes up with more support for those struggling to pay their energy bills, MPs have warned.

In a report focusing on how to ease punishing energy costs now, while guarding against future crises, the business and energy select committee said:

The energy price cap should be replaced with a “social tariff”.

The energy regulator Ofgem has been “negligent”.

A national home insulation programme should be launched urgently.

The committee said a £15bn package of support for bill payers, announced in May, had already been rendered obsolete by soaring energy prices, a driving force behind a 40-year-high 9.4% inflation rate that has been eroding household finances.

The then chancellor, Rishi Sunak, who now is vying with Liz Truss to be the next prime minister, announced the measures at a time when average dual-fuel tariffs were predicted to rise to £2,800.

They are now forecast to reach £3,244 when the next price cap takes effect in October. That means that bills will have risen by nearly £2,000 within a year, compared with the £1,200 that Sunak’s measures will make available to only the most vulnerable households.

The committee said the lack of any further support, amid the broader cost of living crisis, would lead to an “unacceptable rise in fuel poverty and hardship this winter”.

“Once again, the energy crisis is racing ahead of the government,” its chair, Labour MP Darren Jones, said. “We were told by a number of witnesses, ‘If you think things are bad now, you’ve not seen anything yet.’

“This winter is going to be extremely difficult for family finances and it’s therefore critical that public funds are better targeted to those who need it the