Which? published a press statement on 10 August 2022 urging the government to increase the financial support it provides to households facing rising energy bills. The consumer body said the scale of the predicted increases meant the help committed so far would not be sufficient, and called on ministers and businesses to work together on further measures for people in serious financial hardship.
The intervention followed estimates that energy bills could hit £5,000. Which? said it hoped those figures would prove wrong, but that they underlined the urgency of the situation. Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, set out the organisation's position:
In a second statement published on 11 August 2022, Concha said the estimates reinforced the urgency of dealing with the crisis "to help the ever-growing numbers of people who are already being pushed into or living in poverty"1. She said the government must move quickly to increase the amount of financial support it is providing to help families and households make ends meet1.
Neither statement set out a figure for the increase Which? is seeking, and neither named specific measures or a timetable for government action. The two statements do not disagree on any point of fact; the 11 August statement repeats the call made the previous day and adds the reference to poverty. The £5,000 figure is described by Which? as an estimate, and the organisation does not say in these statements who produced it or over what period it would apply. No government response to the call is reported in either statement.
Why it matters for households
The level of the energy price cap determines what a typical household pays, and the estimates cited here sit far above the support already committed. For a household, the gap between the two is the amount that has to come from income, savings or debt. That gap is what shapes a home's energy independence: the less a household relies on short-term government support to cover essential use, the less exposed it is to changes in policy and in wholesale prices.
Which? frames the issue as one of hardship rather than of prices alone, pointing to households already in poverty and to those facing serious financial difficulty. Its call covers both the size of government support and the role of businesses, which indicates that the organisation sees the response as extending beyond a single payment or scheme. For households carrying energy debt, the practical question raised by the statements is whether support arrives before or after arrears build up, though neither statement addresses the timing of payments.
What happens next
No next steps are dated in either statement. Which? says the government must move quickly and that ministers and businesses should work together, but sets no deadline and names no mechanism. No response from the government is reported.