Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer has responded to the
raising of cap on what suppliers can charge for a unit of energy.
She 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 [1]”.
The cap on energy prices in England and Wales has risen by
80%, meaning an average household could be paying £3,549 a year from 1st
October, with a further hike expected in January.
Regulator Ofgem have warned that market conditions mean
prices could get ‘significantly worse’ during 2023 [2].
An Ipsos poll carried out for Sky News found that 1 in 10
people had found it “very difficult” to afford their energy bills over the past
three months.
The poll questioned a representative sample of 2000 adults
aged 18-75 and found that out of these 29% had used savings to pay an energy
bill, 15% had missed payments on another household bill, and 14% had borrowed
money to pay an energy bill.
Households with children and people on low incomes were the
most likely to struggle to pay energy bills. The pain through is starting to
spread to people on middle to high incomes, 1 in 4 of whom said they had struggled
to pay for energy over the past three months [3].
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph chancellor Nadhim Zahawi
admitted that people, including those earning higher incomes would need support,
saying the government was looking at “all the options” to help people cope with
what he described as a “national economic emergency” [4].
The two candidates for the leadership of the Conservative
Party and to be the next prime minister have been urged to give details of how
they will help households deal with soaring energy costs.
Rishi Sunak has spoken about targeted payments to
vulnerable groups, including pensioners and low earners and a cut to VAT on
fuel bills [5]. Liz Truss favours using tax cuts over direct payments,
including reversing the rise in National Insurance payments and cutting green
levies on energy bills [6].
Both candidates have been cagey as to specifics, prompting
criticism that the government is ‘asleep at the wheel’ at a time of national crisis.
Leading charities including Save the Children have warned that lives could be
lost this winter as families struggle to pay their bills.
Becca Lyon, head of child poverty at Save the Children told
the BBC children were “at serious risk”. Katie Schmucker of the Joseph Rowntree
Foundation said it was “simply unthinkable” for the consequences of the prices
rises not to be met by “government intervention on a significant scale” [7].
Carla Denyer said, “Only the government can make an
intervention of the scale and speed required to help people through this crisis”.
The Green Party is calling for the price cap to be returned
to where it was in October 2021 and for the big five energy suppliers to be
taken into public ownership. In the longer term they want more investment in
renewable energy and insulating people’s homes.
Carla Denyer said, “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”.
Adding that the longer the government delays in acting the greater
the difficulties households face will become and the longer the country will be
“at the mercy of volatile energy prices”.
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62695778
[5] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62685439
[6] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62703858
[7] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62674301
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