New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
The huge increase in wholesale energy prices across Europe has prompted governments to initiate a range of measures to help shield consumers from the impact of rising retail prices. Brian Davis reports.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak recently presented a £9bn emergency package for people struggling with energy price rises. The average household faces the prospect of paying an extra £700/y for gas and electricity, as the UK energy regulator Ofgem raised the price cap to £1,971, with a suggestion that the cap would rise again in the autumn.
Under the Treasury plan, 28mn customers will have £200 removed from energy bills in October 2021, to be repaid in annual instalments over five years. Council taxpayers in England in bands A to D will receive a £150 rebate from bills, which will not have to be paid back. Further sums have been set aside for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Local authorities will get £150mn to make discretionary payments to 300,000 poorer families, while the number of households eligible for the warm homes discount, worth £150 from October, is to be increased by a third from October to 3mn.
However, Chancellor Sunak turned down Labour’s call for a cut in the 5% VAT on energy bills.