Energy cost support is being withdrawn “far too fast” for families and businesses, says TUC

From today (Saturday) government support with energy costs for households and businesses will drop substantially.

But the TUC is warning that the withdrawal of support is taking place too fast, causing families hardship and putting businesses and jobs at risk.

Households

The Energy Bills Support Scheme ended yesterday.

The scheme provided most households with £400 off their domestic energy bills, broken up into monthly reductions applied directly to bills of £66 in October and November, and £67 in December, January, February and March.

Another form of support, the Energy Price Guarantee, has been extended to the end of June 2023.

However, the termination of the Energy Bills Support Scheme means that from today most households will experience a significant increase to their monthly bills compared to the last six months.

Businesses

The Energy Bills Relief Scheme, which ran from 1 October to 31 March, has been replaced today by the Energy Bills Discount Scheme.

The rates of support for the current scheme compared to the former scheme are much lower, and some businesses that previously had support will no longer get any support at all.

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:

“From today, monthly energy bills will jump for many people because this support has been taken away.

“This comes at a time when inflation is still above 10% and wage growth is a long way off that.

“Conservative ministers have been far too fast to withdraw the scheme. Hard-pressed families should have this support for longer.”

On the reduction to business support, Paul added:

“Thousands of businesses will find that their energy bills surge this month because the government’s new scheme gives much less help.

“Many companies will simply not be able to cope with these bills, and that could put jobs at risk too.

“The government must not allow a short-term crisis to become a permanent destroyer of jobs and businesses.”