Skip to content 
On Thursday, the head of supplier EDF Energy, Simone Rossi, warned that Britain was “moving into a second energy crisis” and Vyas said action was needed before bills jumped again.
“Last-minute emergency interventions risk being poorly targeted and costing us all more,” she said.
Energy UK is calling for government measures including:
-
targeted support over and above the £150 Warm Home Discount, given to people on benefits, ultimately leading to the introduction of a reduced social tariff
-
a debt relief scheme for the hardest hit households as part of a strategy that also helps prevent debt build-up among new tenants and home owners
-
remove more levies from electricity bills and shift them to taxation, as part of a wider move towards electrification
Adam Scorer, chief executive of the charity National Energy, which campaigns against fuel poverty, told BBC Breakfast that he agreed with Energy UK’s analysis.
“[The increase in debt is] not more people going into debt, that’s poorer people getting into more serious levels of debt.”
He added: “Until you do something about it, there’s no way forward, there’s no breathing space, there’s no future for households who can’t see their way out of debt.”
At the Labor Party conference last week, Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the BBC he would not call Rossi’s crisis warning an overstatement, adding that the cost of home energy, as well as petrol and diesel, was “very heavy”.
“We are looking at any measure that gives people breathing space that can take the pressure off,” he said.
