With opinion polls and bookmakers’ odds showing Truss the clear favorite to move into 10 Downing Street next week, officials are drawing up plans to allow the new government to move fast on bills and long-term reforms to the energy market. Truss said she wants to announce a package by the end of September, but parliament will go into recess on September 22 for the party conference season. That would leave the chancellor, expected to be Kwasi Kwarteng, less than a fortnight to choose from a range of measures. The Treasury accepts that the £15bn support package announced by Rishi Sunak in May will be insufficient given the subsequent increase in the cap on average household energy bills and the possibility of a further big rise in January. He has received messages from the Truss camp that he plans to do more to help households facing skyrocketing gas and electric bills this winter. The new chancellor will receive a detailed briefing including forecasts for the cap, the likely impact on bills, the impact on different groups of households and ways to target support. The mini-package of measures will include cuts to national insurance contributions, the scrapping of planned corporation tax rises and the temporary removal of green levies from energy bills – all of which feature prominently in Truss’s campaign – as well as additional measures deemed necessary in the future. from the 80% increase in the energy price cap to over £3,500 expected on 1 October. The Trust’s tax liabilities alone cost £30bn. Sources said the civil service is considering proposals from the two Tory leadership candidates, with the government machine ready to respond “very quickly” once the new prime minister is chosen. Options will include making the system Sunak announced in May more generous and more narrowly focused on low-income households. The options also include changes to universal credit and a plan proposed by Stephen Fitzpatrick, head of Ovo, Britain’s third-biggest energy supplier, which would cut household energy bills for limited use. Under this plan, energy consumption above a certain level will be charged at a higher rate. Fitzpatrick said the program would channel support to poorer consumers because higher-income households typically use more energy. The need for speed will likely mean a full budget will be written later in the fall, when the independent Office for Budget Responsibility will be ready with new forecasts for the economy and public finances. No date has yet been set for the emergency budget, but September 21 has been mooted. If Truss wins the leadership contest, she would return from New York that day after attending a meeting of the UN general assembly. Kwarteng, currently the business secretary, has been in close contact with British energy companies recently and is looking at ways to tackle some of the structural problems with Britain’s wholesale energy markets. Two potential reforms were floated by the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi. The energy regulator, Ofgem, announced this month that it was changing its price cap methodology to allow suppliers to recover wholesale energy compensation costs – a move that will add several hundred pounds to bills to stop energy providers collapsing . Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Zahawi said he was working with the Bank of England to “provide better liquidity in the wholesale energy market”, which could help reduce the price cap by £400 to £500. Kwarteng is believed to support this initiative and a separate plan that would involve renegotiating contracts with some renewable energy suppliers to reflect the fact that their profit margins have soared during the crisis. Some industry observers have suggested renegotiating existing “renewable energy certificate obligations” for nuclear power plants, wind farms and biomass projects in favor of contracts for difference, which would lower prices and provide long-term stable income for power producers. Industry body Energy UK said such a proposal could reduce energy bills for homes and businesses. In an interview with Sky, Zahawi said he was considering opting for a deal with companies that develop energy from other sources, such as renewables, for “a voluntary contract for the difference … at a lower price”, but said he “will not it was ready by the following winter.’ Zahawi said: “There are no easy choices. That’s the only thing we know.”
title: “Treasury Prepares Contingency Cost Of Living Options For Next Prime Minister Uk Cost Of Living Crisis Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-07” author: “Joshua Amaker”
With opinion polls and bookmakers’ odds showing Truss the clear favorite to move into 10 Downing Street next week, officials are drawing up plans to allow the new government to move fast on bills and long-term reforms to the energy market. Truss said she wants to announce a package by the end of September, but parliament will go into recess on September 22 for the party conference season. That would leave the chancellor, expected to be Kwasi Kwarteng, less than a fortnight to choose from a range of measures. The Treasury accepts that the £15bn support package announced by Rishi Sunak in May will be insufficient given the subsequent increase in the cap on average household energy bills and the possibility of a further big rise in January. He has received messages from the Truss camp that he plans to do more to help households facing skyrocketing gas and electric bills this winter. The new chancellor will receive a detailed briefing including forecasts for the cap, the likely impact on bills, the impact on different groups of households and ways to target support. The mini-package of measures will include cuts to national insurance contributions, the scrapping of planned corporation tax rises and the temporary removal of green levies from energy bills – all of which feature prominently in Truss’s campaign – as well as additional measures deemed necessary in the future. from the 80% increase in the energy price cap to over £3,500 expected on 1 October. The Trust’s tax liabilities alone cost £30bn. Sources said the civil service is considering proposals from the two Tory leadership candidates, with the government machine ready to respond “very quickly” once the new prime minister is chosen. Options will include making the system Sunak announced in May more generous and more narrowly focused on low-income households. The options also include changes to universal credit and a plan proposed by Stephen Fitzpatrick, head of Ovo, Britain’s third-biggest energy supplier, which would cut household energy bills for limited use. Under this plan, energy consumption above a certain level will be charged at a higher rate. Fitzpatrick said the program would channel support to poorer consumers because higher-income households typically use more energy. The need for speed will likely mean a full budget will be written later in the fall, when the independent Office for Budget Responsibility will be ready with new forecasts for the economy and public finances. No date has yet been set for the emergency budget, but September 21 has been mooted. If Truss wins the leadership contest, she would return from New York that day after attending a meeting of the UN general assembly. Kwarteng, currently the business secretary, has been in close contact with British energy companies recently and is looking at ways to tackle some of the structural problems with Britain’s wholesale energy markets. Two potential reforms were floated by the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi. The energy regulator, Ofgem, announced this month that it was changing its price cap methodology to allow suppliers to recover wholesale energy compensation costs – a move that will add several hundred pounds to bills to stop energy providers collapsing . Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Zahawi said he was working with the Bank of England to “provide better liquidity in the wholesale energy market”, which could help reduce the price cap by £400 to £500. Kwarteng is believed to support this initiative and a separate plan that would involve renegotiating contracts with some renewable energy suppliers to reflect the fact that their profit margins have soared during the crisis. Some industry observers have suggested renegotiating existing “renewable energy certificate obligations” for nuclear power plants, wind farms and biomass projects in favor of contracts for difference, which would lower prices and provide long-term stable income for power producers. Industry body Energy UK said such a proposal could reduce energy bills for homes and businesses. In an interview with Sky, Zahawi said he was considering opting for a deal with companies that develop energy from other sources, such as renewables, for “a voluntary contract for the difference … at a lower price”, but said he “will not it was ready by the following winter.’ Zahawi said: “There are no easy choices. That’s the only thing we know.”
