Average energy bills to rise to £3,000 a year from April

Average energy bills to rise to £3,000 a year from April as Jeremy Hunt confirms scrapping of Liz Truss’s package of help – but poorest will receive extra support with eight million households to get £900 payments

• Average energy bills will rise to £3,000 a year in April under altered plans
• Chancellor confirms changes to ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ from next year
• Millions of households now facing higher gas and electricity payments

Average energy bills will rise to £3,000 a year from April as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed he was scrapping previous Government plans.

In his Autumn Statement to the House of Commons, Mr Hunt revealed changes to the ‘Energy Price Guarantee’ would leave Britons facing higher gas and electricity payments next year.

When former prime minister Liz Truss first announced the cost of living support in September, she outlined how average energy bills would be frozen at £2,500 a year for the next two years.

But Mr Hunt scrapped those plans when he was drafted in as Chancellor last month to battle financial turmoil and a blackhole in the nation’s finances.

Delivering details of an altered plan today, Mr Hunt revealed the Energy Price Guarantee would now be set at a higher level of £3,000 a year for average households until April 2024.

The plan only caps the cost per unit that households pay, with actual bills still determined by how much is consumed.

The Chancellor assured the poorest households facing another huge spike in energy bills that they would also receive further support.

More than eight million households on means-tested benefits will receive a cost of living payment of £900 in instalments.

Pensioners will also recieve £300 and people on disability benefits will get £150.

Jeremy Hunt revealed the Energy Price Guarantee would now be set at a higher level of £3,000 a year for average households until April 2024

Britons are now facing higher gas and electricity payments from next year as the Chancellor confirmed he was scrapping previous plans

In his Autumn Statement, Mr Hunt admitted that energy bills were ‘one of the biggest worries’ facing families.

He paid tribute to Ms Truss and his predecessor as Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, for their implementation of the Energy Price Guarantee.

‘This winter, we will stick with the plan to spend £55 billion to help households and businesses with their energy bills – one of the largest support plans in Europe,’ Mr Hunt added.

‘From April, we will continue the Energy Price Guarantee for a further 12 months at a higher level of £3,000 per year for the average household.

‘With prices forecast to remain elevated through next year, this will still mean an average of £500 support for every household.’

Alongside the extra help for those on benefits and pensions, the Chancellor told the Commons there would also be an extra £1billion for local councils’ hardship funds.

This money would help them ‘assist those who might otherwise fall through the cracks’.

Those households who use alternative fuels such as heating oil and LPG has will see a doubling of Government support from £100 to £200.

Mr Hunt also promised to outline more energy bills support for businesses before the end of the year.

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘The new energy support package will come as something of a relief for average earners, who were worried they might be left out in the cold.

‘The new package, from April, will keep bills at £3,000 for average users, protecting them from a rise to as much as £3,700.

‘This still leaves them with a horrible mountain to climb.

‘In March this year we were paying an average of £1,277 on our energy bills, so we’ll have to find almost two and a half times more cash to pay our bills within 13 months.

‘The fact that this comes on top of so many other price rises means life is going to get even tougher next spring.’

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