E3G, an independent climate change think tank, published a briefing on 11 January 2022 setting out its recommendations in response to the energy bill crisis. The briefing states that it "sets out near-term actions to protect households from sharp price increases, and longer-term priorities to rebuild for resilience"1.
The briefing says energy bills are set to rise to £2,000 per year from April, describing the increase as "untenable for most households" and a disaster for those already in fuel poverty1. It attributes the pressure to soaring global gas prices combined with domestic factors, "exacerbated by a toxic mix of additional pressures including energy supplier failures, rising living costs and longstanding underinvestment in green homes"1.
On the wider economic effect, the briefing states that a one percentage point rise in inflation leads to considerably more than £10bn a year in government costs, and cites a Goldman Sachs prediction that rising fuel bills could push inflation up by around two percentage points1. It adds that there are economic benefits to be gained through measures to cut energy bills and support green industries, though the briefing page does not set out those measures in detail1.
"The response must prioritise emergency support for vulnerable households. We must also start now towards building a greener, fairer and resilient system as the only long-term solution for preventing future crises."
The briefing was written by Juliet Phillips and published on 11 January 2022. The full document is available as a download from E3G1.
Why it matters for households
The briefing frames the April increase as a cost-of-living problem rather than only an energy one, linking household bills to supplier failures and to what it calls longstanding underinvestment in green homes1. For a household, that framing matters because it connects the price of gas to the fabric of the home itself: how well it holds heat, and how exposed it is to a volatile global gas market. The energy bills and energy independence guide sets out how that exposure works in practice.
The figures cited also point to a wider loop. If fuel bills push inflation higher, the briefing says government costs rise with it, at more than £10bn a year for each percentage point of inflation1. That is a claim about public finances rather than household budgets, and the briefing does not quantify what it would mean for any individual home.
The briefing distinguishes emergency support for vulnerable households from longer-term measures, and states that the longer-term work is the only solution it identifies for preventing future crises1. It does not name specific schemes, eligibility rules or funding amounts on the page published. The price cap hub covers how the default tariff cap operates, and the British Gas Energy Trust page covers grants for energy debt.
What happens next
The briefing sets out near-term actions and longer-term priorities but does not attach dates to either1. No timetable for government or industry response is given in the published material. The Energy Price Guarantee page covers the scheme later introduced to cap unit rates, which is separate from this briefing.