The energy price crisis in the UK will be “really terrible”, as 40% of people will be in fuel poverty if Rishi Sunk is taking urgent actionwarned the boss of one of the UK’s largest suppliers.
Scottish Power CEO Keith Anderson said the chancellor needed to act urgently and be “more radical” to limit the effects of rising gas and electricity prices.
Mr Anderson told MPs that Scottish Power had been flooded with 8,000 calls from customers concerned that they would not be able to afford electricity to their homes.
This came after Hayden Wood, Bulb’s boss, was told he was “stunned” by the fact that he continues to receive a salary of £ 250.00 a year, provided by taxpayers, after an energy supplier collapsed last year.
Mr Wood said he had “worked very hard” to minimize taxpayer costs from Bulb’s failure.
Mr Anderson of Scottish Power said he was “very concerned about people” facing a big increase in bills. “There are so many people who will really, really fight.”
He added: “There is a lot of anxiety from people on the phone about what they are going to do and what they are facing … Many people are facing this problem for the first time, they have never been in that situation. before.
The energy boss said his biggest concern is what will happen in October, when the price limit jumps again, to around £ 3,000 a year.
While the limit has already risen 54 percent this month, consumers are partially depreciating from exposure to warmer temperatures, meaning lower energy bills.
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“I sincerely believe that the size and scale of this far exceeds what I can handle, what this industry can handle. We need a massive shift, a significant shift in the government’s approach to this. “
“I think the problem has reached such a scale and scale when it requires something significant of this nature, when for those people who are considered poor … it brings their accounts back to what it was before the gas crisis. “
Mr Anderson called for a deficit fund and the introduction of “social tariffs” to replace the much-criticized energy price cap.
Under the plan, vulnerable families and low-income clients will receive a discount of up to £ 1,000 a year on their accounts.
The money will be returned by consumers and taxpayers within 10 years.
E.On CEO Michael Lewis also supported the social tariff, but said more urgent measures were needed, such as a reduction in VAT.
He warned that 30 to 40 per cent of people in Britain could find themselves in fuel poverty from October, when prices are likely to rise significantly again.
The current government measures are widely considered inadequate. In his latest report on taxes and expenses, the chancellor refused to offer further support to families in dire straits.
Mr Sunak has decided to follow the previously announced tax rebates and discounts of £ 200 on retail electricity bills to be repaid by collecting bills over the next five years. The two schemes will cover only a fraction of the increase faced by energy consumers.
With about a third of households expected to be struggling this winter to afford enough heating and electricity, pressure on the government is growing to do more.
Mr Anderson called on ministers to speed up the transition to renewable energy, which he said is holding back inadequate investment and cumbersome planning systems that are making new capacity building in the UK slower than in many other countries.
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine underscored Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and gas, giving a new impetus to zero emissions.
Over the past 12 months, the sharp rise in prices has helped shut down more than two dozen suppliers. The head of the owner of British Gas Centrica warned MPs that next year more suppliers will be cut.
Hayden Wood, CEO of Bulb, which received more than £ 1.7 billion in government funding, defended his actions ahead of the collapse of his company into a special management.
Asked by the committee whether it was “morally justified” that he continued to receive his salary of £ 250,000 a year after Bulb had failed and was rescued by the government, Mr Wood replied that he and his team worked “very hard”.
He added: “All we are doing now is trying to complete the sale of the company so that we can minimize costs for taxpayers and minimize barriers for consumers.
