This doesn’t fix our broken energy market and doesn’t do enough for the poorest

Ofgem has confirmed today (3 February) that it is raising the energy cap by more than 50% meaning the average household will pay more than £600 a year more for energy than at present.

Also today, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced some measures to help households with the price of bills. Measures include:

• lending money to energy providers to cut bills, worth £200 to billpayers but repayable over the next few years
• A council tax rebate of £150 for bands A-D
• Extension of the Warm Home discount

Sue Ferns, Senior Deputy General Secretary of Prospect, responded to the measures:

“People will welcome anything that helps them with rocketing bills but this still does nothing to fix our broken energy market nor does it go far enough to help the poorest households. There is also a huge risk that these measures simply entrench higher bills for years to come.

“The energy market is fundamentally broken. It’s time to invest in new nuclear and renewables, take energy retail out of private hands and find a sustainable solution that works for consumers.”