Hunt may offer energy bill help to pensioners and Britons on benefits

Jeremy Hunt says that ‘everyone will be paying more tax’

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While Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce tax increases and a number of Government spending cuts in his Autumn Statement on Thursday, additional forms of financial aid are also anticipated, for those who need it. The speculated support measures come as former PM Liz Truss’ energy price guarantee is set to come to an end next April.

The energy price guarantee, which took effect on October 1, reduced the unit cost of electricity and gas so that a household with typical energy use would pay around £2,500 a year on average for their energy.

However, while the cap was initially said to be in place for two years, it’s instead been reduced to six months after the markets expressed concerns that it wasn’t sustainable, due to international energy price fluctuations.

The Chancellor is instead expected to hike the energy price cap up a further £600 for an average household to £3,100 a year, in a move that should slash the energy bailout by two-thirds from costing an estimated £60billion to around £20billion.

But while this figure remains extortionate for many, it’s thought that Mr Hunt will be announcing new support through more one-off payments to help Britain’s most vulnerable.

On the measures he’s due to introduce on Thursday, Mr Hunt said they would be “compassionate”, but warned it was not “sustainable” to be paying as much as a “second NHS” in support towards energy bills.

Speaking with Sky News, Mr Hunt said: “The plan that I outline to the House of Commons on Thursday will be one that gets us through these difficult times but also shows British compassion, the support for the most vulnerable people.

“The increase in our national energy bill over the last couple of years is around £140billion. It’s like the economy supporting an entire second NHS.

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“If we are going to tackle that and deal with the worry that, for example, a pensioner has about the massive increase in the gas bill, the electricity bill and so on, then we need a long-term plan for the country for clean energy, for green energy, for cheap energy, that isn’t affected by international events.”c

Elaborating on his energy plans to the BBC, Mr Hunt said: “We’ll make sure that we protect the most vulnerable.

“And in particular, deal with the single biggest worry for people on low incomes, which is the rising cost of their weekly shop and rising energy prices.

“Will we continue to support people? Yes, we will. Will it be uncapped, unlimited? We have to recognise that one of the reasons for the instability that followed the mini-Budget was that people were worried that we were exposing British public finances to the volatility of the international gas market.

“So there has to be some constraints to it. But yes, we will continue to support families, and I will explain exactly how we’re going to do that.”

The energy support scheme, which provides a £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households over the course of six months, will also come to an end in April – along with the £2,500 energy price guarantee.

The energy support scheme was announced in May by Rishi Sunak when he was Chancellor, as well as the other cost of living schemes for various eligible groups.

This included a £650 one-off payment, which was distributed to those who receive certain benefits, a £300 payment for low-income pensioners, and a £150 payment distributed to those with disabilities.

It’s thought that Mr Hunt will announce that the same sort of groups may receive some sort of targeted help again, during Thursday’s statement.

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