An overwhelming majority of people are “crying out for help with their energy bills”, says Mike Foster, CEO of the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA).
Faced with a price cap increase of 54% from this month and with many people finding their direct debits rocketing by even more, the issue of energy bills is now at the top of the political agenda, he said.
Research commissioned by EUA last week of 2,000 UK consumers showed the sheer scale of concern around rising energy bills.
In total, 89% of people said it was important that the government tackles rising energy bills and 91% believe the government needs to introduce new measures to support consumers if the Price Cap increases again in October.
Meanwhile, 86% of respondents want to see VAT on energy bills scrapped, a figure up 10 points since the same survey in June 2021.
Mike Foster said: “The outcry over energy bills is now deafening. It is top of the agenda for people now struggling to pay their way. And the issue is not going away. With the expectation that the Price Cap will increase again in October, ahead of the winter heating season, the chancellor will have to find a way of supporting consumers. If he doesn’t, given these poll findings, he and hundreds of his colleagues better start brushing up their CVs.
“The Spring Statement, which cut VAT on water turbines for your mill house, failed to help the vast majority. Even more than ever, charging VAT on energy bills is deeply unpopular. At a stroke, the Chancellor could shave £100 off the average energy bill, something nearly nine in ten people want to see. With numbers like that, not only would it be the right thing to do, it would be politically popular too.
“Short-term measures are clearly needed to help ease the current pain, but the government must also address the longer term energy security of supply concerns that are the root cause of the problem. We need to break away from reliance on fossil gas and switch our gas networks to green hydrogen. Keeping gas boilers but changing the gas they use will help us reach our Net Zero targets, keep costs and disruption to a minimum for consumers and keep Putin’s gas in the ground.”