Based on expected prices, this will save people £1,000 per annum, she told MPs. This is because, in October, the energy price cap was expected to increase from £1,971 to £3,549.
Businesses are also receiving a six-month support package, which will include “equivalent support”. Further support will be provided to vulnerable industries after the six-month period.
"This is the moment to be bold. We are facing a global energy crisis and there are no cost-free options," the new PM told the Commons.
The action, which was announced on Wednesday, will see those living on the Isle of Man pay some of the lowest electricity prices across the British Isles unless other governments follow suit.
People on the Isle of Man had been bracing for a 70% rise in tariffs, adding an additional £500 to the average annual household bill from the autumn.
However, under the government’s deal, the increase will instead be added to customers’ bills over an extended period of time from April.
In a comment, the Isle of Man’s Treasury minister, Alex Allinson, said: “The aim here is to flatten the curve on the cost of living increases and give households a degree of certainty and time to adjust to what may be a longer-term set of challenges.”
“Providing a loan with a 20-year repayment means that the costs of record electricity prices expected this winter can be factored into bills over a much longer period, cushioning consumers from what would be, for many, crippling price rises.”
The price freeze will be funded via a £26 million loan by the government to the island’s electricity provider, Manx Utilities. This loan will then be repaid over 20 years. However, the loan still requires formal approval by the Isle of Man’s legislature.
“The aim here is to flatten the curve on the cost of living increases and give households a degree of certainty and time to adjust to what may be a longer-term set of challenges,” Allinson explained.
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The CBI urged the government to freeze business rates for another year and to quickly implement targeted support to prevent otherwise viable businesses from collapsing.
Over the next three months, two-thirds of businesses will face a significant rise in their bills, with a third of those facing increases exceeding 30%.
The CBI also urged the government to offer businesses and the self-employed additional time to pay their tax bills and to provide easier access to loans.
"Firms aren't asking for a handout. But they do need autumn to be the moment that the government grips the energy cost crisis. Decisive action now will give firms headroom on cash flow and prevent a short-term crunch from becoming a longer-term crisis,” commented Matthew Fell, CBI chief policy director.
"With firms under pressure not to pass on rising costs, there is a risk that vital business investment is paused or halted entirely. That, in turn, could pose a real threat to the UK's economic recovery and Net Zero transition."
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Philippe Commaret, EDF’s managing director for customers, told BBC Radio 4: “We face, despite the support the Government has already announced, a dramatic and catastrophic winter for our customers.”
“In January, half of the UK households might be in fuel poverty.”
Energy poverty is defined as spending over 10% of income on gas and electricity bills.
Commaret is calling on the Government to offer more support to households after the most recent predictions from Cornwall Insight showed that energy bills are on track to top £5,300 per year in April.
On Friday, regulator Ofgem will confirm the price cap for October.
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The energy company posted a £1.3 billion profit in the first six months of the year, up from £262 million during the same period last year. The record surge has been fueled by higher revenues from its oil, gas, and nuclear assets.
On Thursday, British Gas said it expects a further surge in profits this year amid rising energy prices, which has seen the company reinstate its dividend payout. Shareholders are receiving a dividend of 1p per share at a time when many households are struggling to pay record-high energy bills.
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war at the end of February, gas prices have reached their highest level, with worse yet to come for consumers. In January, it is understood that the UK’s energy price cap could reach £3,850 per year.
In response to Centrica’s results, CEO Chris O'Shea commented, "We are very aware of the difficult environment many customers are facing and we will continue supporting them.”
Except it hasn’t been like that. Not even a little. The UK is in the midst of its “weakest decade for pay growth since the 1930s”, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation, a think tank. Meanwhile, the cost of living in the UK is at its highest since September 2011, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Then there’s inflation. This almost hit a 30-year high of 5.4% in December. But the great compounder of peoples’ travails is the energy crisis. In 2021, a typical home was paying around £1042 for gas and electricity per year, in April – when the price cap changes – that figure is likely to increase to £2000.
Crises require collaboration
People are hoping that governments, central banks, and energy companies will step in with measures to alleviate the spate of issues facing households. The chancellor's announcement to provide a repayable £200 discount on bills and a further £150 council tax rebate for most homes in England will serve as some comfort, but the majority will still face a shortfall. Is the right solution for people to quietly struggle? Of course not. As the situation worsens, we might anticipate a wave of radical creativity and activity from citizens. We know from experience that catastrophes are mobilising moments, they spark new thinking, collaboration, and help knit society together. Consider the pandemic – a single emergency inspired 436,000 people to join the NHS Volunteer Responders Programme. The service reckons these people carried out about 2-million covid-associated tasks. Then there was all the clapping and banging of saucepans in the street to celebrate the efforts of health workers - crises are traumatic, but they unite.
Take the power back
It’s easy to see how citizens might mobilise in response to covid – delivering essentials to quarantining neighbours, staffing a vaccine centre, or just being conscientious when it comes to handwashing and mask-wearing. But the issues at hand require more thought. What can people do in response to soaring energy prices and inflation? The answer might lie in the rise of a consumer-centric energy market. We are currently seeing the first phase of this with a year-on-year increase in solar panel installations. There is room for growth, as of 2020, 970,000 UK homes are using them, according to government figures – that’s only 3.3% of the country. Further along, it’s possible that citizens will tire of paying huge prices to huge companies and opt for creating energy themselves. This could see the birth of localised power co-operatives, where energy is produced peer-to-peer. New, low-cost and easy to use technologies will be key to making this revolution happen in the coming years.
In the short term, the UK is staring down the worst set of circumstances since the financial crash of 2008. But if government inaction and industry stagnation lead to an era when people are more conscious of their own collective power for social change, the twenties might roar at last.
About the author: Matt Hay is the founder and CEO of Bulbshare, a company on a mission to solve the world's biggest social and commercial problems through the power of community collaboration.
So far, this year has been anything but typical. As nations have attempted to regain their footing after a difficult 19 months or so, inflation fears and spiralling energy prices have cast a very dark shadow on worldwide economic recoveries.
Even as world leaders prepare to convene for the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), global fossil fuel prices are soaring. While oil prices have hit multi-year highs in the US, with Brent crude sitting at $86 a barrel, the situation in Europe grows grim, as crude and gas have crept up to near all-time highs. As we approach the colder months, where demand for these commodities usually tends to rise in line with changing weather conditions, many traders and investors may be wondering if we are in for a particularly volatile winter. So, what factors should individuals consider when weighing up their investment activities?
‘Stagflation’ may cast a dark shadow
One aspect which may exacerbate usual seasonal patterns is the fact that we are currently in a ‘stagflationary’ environment – a deadly combination of rising prices, rising wages, low productivity, low growth, and rising unemployment. No doubt, this will be a pressing concern for investors given recent CPI data, as a prolonged period of inflation may drive central banks to raise their interest rates. What’s more, energy rationing and contracting consumer budgets may also spell trouble for the economy, stifling global growth. The result of all this? Energy prices may pose a road bump on the path to post-Covid recovery.
As such, I would advise traders and investors to watch central bank meetings closely. Not only will the minutes of monetary policy committee meetings give a direct insight into the thoughts of leading economists on these issues, but they will also provide a forecast of where inflation is headed.
At the moment, inflation figures have steadied somewhat in the UK, where the energy crisis originated, to 3.1% in annual terms for September. That said, the newly appointed chief economist at the Bank of England (BoE) Huw Pill has offered some words of caution, warning that inflation figures may top 5% by early next year – which could prove problematic for a central bank with an inflation target of 2%. Now, traders and investors are expecting a potential interest rate rise from the BoE at their next meeting on 4 November. Up until now, the Federal Reserve and the European Central bank are months behind taking such action.
Investors should also consider the fact that, generally speaking, oil tends to have a significant effect on currencies, as it has a strong inflationary component. In effect, this means that any volatility in oil prices will result in serious implications for the FX world. While central figures maintain that, like inflation, the energy crisis is “transitory”, I would still advise investors to keep their ears to the ground for any rumblings about oil.
COP26 will mark a shift to cleaner energy
Additionally, the upcoming COP26 summit on 31 October will contribute to something of a shift where usual seasonal patterns are concerned. Given that the recent energy crunch has marked a turn back to ‘dirtier’ sources of energy like thermal coal and oil, traders and investors can expect world leaders to recommit to old pledges to reduce their carbon emissions and accelerate these plans. While such efforts may seem like a given, the pace at which this transition occurs should provide traders and investors with some more nuance; so too will the inevitable opportunities that come along with an event like this. The summit will likely result in a new push for greener investments – clean energy sources, as well as the technology required to advance, transmit and store it, will provide new avenues to investors. Here, though, it is important to note that investing in any emerging market, and particularly energy, can come with some risks.
‘Tis the season
While most investors are no strangers to the fact that cold weather conditions tend to result in higher energy prices – particularly in the winter months – worsening weather conditions could exacerbate this trend. At the moment, meteorologists are predicting that the UK is in for a bitter winter, which could result in further gas shortages and supply bottlenecks.
In short, it seems like this year we can expect normal seasonal patterns to be amplified by the energy crisis, as well as other extraneous factors. While none of this is certain as yet, traders and investors should ensure that they anticipate any market shocks.
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The Institute For Fiscal Studies (IFS) said Sunak was on track to lift the UK’s tax burden to the highest sustained level seen during peacetime as he prepares to unveil a package of tax increases at this month’s budget and spending review. The introduction of any tax hike will go against the Conservative manifesto for the December 2019 election, which stated: “We will not raise the rate of income tax, VAT or National Insurance.”
The tax raid would help fund an expansion in the UK to the highest level of government spending since the 1980s. However, the IFS said several government departments would still face budget cuts. It warned that continually squeezed areas, such as prisons, further education, and local government could see their budgets shrink by more than £2 billion next year.
“These budgets were cut substantially in the 2010s, and a further round of cuts would be difficult to reconcile with the government’s stated objectives – particularly around ‘levelling up’,” the IFS said.
The IFS also accused the government of effectively “smuggling in” tax rises under the cover of the pandemic and as living costs increase amid the ongoing energy crisis.
Kwarteng told MPs that the Government is looking at all options when asked if the UK could adopt Spain’s policy of introducing a new tax on energy companies’ windfall gains. Earlier this week, energy providers Green and Avro collapsed as wholesale costs continue to rocket.
There is increasing concern that domestic customers across the UK and Europe will now face a winter of surging energy bills as coal, nuclear and gas plants put up their charges in the face of a supply shortfall.
In Spain, companies that make “excess profits” from rising energy prices will be taxed, with the funds generated to be invested in infrastructure.
In the UK, there is currently little evidence to suggest that any major power plants are profiting from the rising costs. Kwarteng said: "I'm not a fan of windfall taxes, let me get that straight, but of course, it's an entire system and we have to think about how we can get the energy system as a whole to help itself."
"I think what they’re doing in Spain is recognising that it’s an entire system, the energy system is an entire system. I’m in discussion with Ofgem and other officials, looking at all options."
Kwarteng has warned that the UK has to be ready for energy prices to remain higher over the coming months, with financial expert Martin Lewis warning that up to 30 UK energy firms could go bust.
