The End Fuel Poverty Coalition was among 120 organisations that signed a letter to the Chancellor calling for the Household Support Fund to be extended by at least another year, the coalition said in a statement published in February 20241. The statement also set out coalition calculations that the average household has spent £2,300 more on energy bills since April 2021 than it would have done had prices remained stable, and that additional household spending on energy across the country over the last three years totals more than £68bn1.
The figures were published as Ofgem lowered the price cap by around 12% for domestic energy bills1. The coalition said the new cap level leaves gas and electricity costs 60% higher than in 2021, when the bills crisis began, and that over 3 million households owe money to their energy firm1. The coalition's calculation accounts for government support schemes set up to help households, including the Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bills Support Scheme; it states the £52bn net cost of those measures is also borne by the taxpayer1. Its table gives the price cap at 30 March 2021 as £1,042 for the average household, rising to £2,500 from 1 April 2023 and £1,928 from 1 January 2024, with a further fall to £1,690 from 1 April 20241.
The coalition said the government is set to end both the Energy Price Guarantee and the Household Support Fund on 31 March 20241. It said the Household Support Fund provides local authorities with additional resources to help communities most hit by high energy bills, with 26 million grants given by councils to households struggling to afford the essentials1.
YouGov research for the Stop The Squeeze campaign found 61% of respondents, including 70% of Conservative voters, chose energy bill support as one of the interventions they would most like to see, more than twice as popular as cuts to taxes on wages at 29%1.
"Even after this latest change to the price cap, energy prices remain 60% higher than they were before the energy bills crisis began."
Why it matters for households
The Household Support Fund is a route by which councils have made grants to households struggling to afford essentials, and the coalition's statement says 26 million such grants have been made1. Its scheduled end on 31 March 2024, alongside the end of the Energy Price Guarantee, would remove both a local discretionary source of help and the mechanism the coalition says protects households from fluctuating global energy markets1. For a household's energy independence, the practical effect is that more of the cost of heating and power falls back on the bill payer at a point when the coalition says costs remain 60% higher than in 2021 and more than 3 million households are in debt to their supplier1. The coalition's own figures put the cumulative extra spend at £2,300 per household and £68bn nationally since April 2021, after government support is taken into account1. The coalition also links its call to a longer term plan to help households upgrade their homes, alongside short term financial support1. Details of the Home Energy Grants and Schemes in the UK: The Full Guide set out the schemes available, and the position of vulnerable and medically dependent households is covered separately.
What happens next
The Energy Price Guarantee and the Household Support Fund are both set to end on 31 March 20241. No decision by the government on the letter's request had been reported at the time of the statement1.
Sources1 cited
- Energy bills crisis has cost the average household £2,300 each, endfuelpoverty.org.uk