A wide range of health, poverty, housing and environmental organisations and academics have written to the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt MP, requesting an Emergency Energy Tariff and a help to repay scheme for those in energy debt, ahead of the Autumn Statement1. The call was published on 1 November 2023 and draws on polling commissioned by the Warm This Winter campaign1.
The proposed Emergency Energy Tariff would use the existing Energy Price Guarantee mechanism to fix unit costs and standing charges for vulnerable groups at a lower level1. Campaigners have suggested fixing it at the levels of energy bills in winter 2020/21, which they say would cut eligible households' monthly energy bills by approximately £87 from current levels, a saving of around 46%1. Polling suggests 83% of the public who have an opinion would support such a measure; including those who answered "don't know" still sees support in the high 60s to low 70s percentage range1.
On average, people struggling to pay energy costs said they need £73 a month off their bills to keep warm this winter: £71 for those in work and £77 for those not working1. A fifth (21%) said they need over £100 a month off1. The survey also found 38% of people in households where someone is under 5, pregnant, over 65 or has pre-existing health conditions think they will not, or may not, be able to afford to put the heating on at all this winter, and 62% already want to put the heating on but are worried about the cost1.
| Amount needed off monthly bills | UK population | In work | Not working |
|---|---|---|---|
| £101 or more | 21% | 17% | 28% |
| £76 to £100 | 17% | 18% | 13% |
| £51 to £75 | 20% | 24% | 14% |
| £26 to £50 | 14% | 15% | 13% |
| £1 to £25 | 2% | 3% | 2% |
| Do not need bills to come down | 3% | 3% | 4% |
| Don't know | 22% | 21% | 25% |
| Average | £73.0 | £70.7 | £77.2 |
Ofgem is expected to increase energy bills by 5% from 1 January, and predictions from experts show prices will remain high until March 20251. Even in winter 2024/25, energy bills will be 79% higher than winter 2020/21, according to the End Fuel Poverty Coalition1.
"If the UK Government thinks that people will be able to get through this winter without more support for their energy bills, then they are living in cloud cuckoo land."
The coalition also said the Government should meet with charities and industry to finalise the details of the proposal, and that it could use the Autumn Statement to send a clear message that Ministers understand the public's suffering2. The Chancellor has separately been urged to use the Autumn Statement to tackle record levels of existing energy debt through a Help To Repay scheme, which would sit alongside tariff support intended to stop debt levels escalating further2. Campaigners have also called for pensions and benefits to be uprated in line with inflation and for the removal of measures such as the two-child benefits cap2.
The initial research informing the proposal and the targeting of support was undertaken by the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute and Cambridge Architectural Research1. Previous research found 18% of the population spent last winter in cold damp homes, with a quarter of people with health conditions unable to heat their homes to a safe standard (26%, 4.75 million)1. The Chartered Institute of Housing said that even before the recent rapid increase in gas and electricity prices, approximately 4.5 million UK households were living in fuel poverty2.
Why it matters for households
The figures describe a gap between what bills cost and what households say they can pay. For the households surveyed, that gap averages £73 a month, and the proposed tariff would close it by around £87 a month for eligible groups1. The mechanism proposed is not new: it would reuse the Energy Price Guarantee, the scheme that fixed unit costs and standing charges during the earlier phase of the crisis, rather than build a new one1.
For a household's energy independence, the practical point is the difference between a temporary fix to unit prices and a permanent reduction in what a home needs to buy. The campaigners' own statements separate the two: an emergency tariff for those priced out of the market now, and longer-term work on insulation, heat pumps and homegrown renewable energy to bring bills down permanently1. The tariffs a household can access, and the energy debt and repayment plans available when arrears build, both shape how exposed a home is to price movements of this kind. Existing support routes, including help with energy bills and debt in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, operate separately from the proposed tariff, which has not been adopted.
What happens next
The letter was sent to the Chancellor ahead of the Autumn Statement, which the campaigners identify as the point at which the proposal could be adopted1. No decision by the Government on the Emergency Energy Tariff or the Help To Repay scheme has been reported. Ofgem's expected 5% increase from 1 January remains a prediction at the time of the letter1.
Sources2 cited
- Struggling households need £73 a month off energy bills to keep warm this winter, endfuelpoverty.org.uk
- Call for Emergency Energy Tariff as vulnerable households fear the winter, endfuelpoverty.org.uk