Kwarteng says ‘help is coming’ as energy price cap looks set to exceed £6,000 next year
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said that more support for households to cope with rising energy bills is on its way, as forecasters predict the energy price cap will exceed £6,000 in April next year.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Kwarteng said: “Russia is the world’s largest natural gas producer. By deliberately restricting exports, they are manipulating the price we pay at home.”
“No country is immune from rising prices – least of all Britain. I understand the deep anxiety this is causing. As winter approaches, millions of families will be concerned about how they are going to make ends meet,” he said.
“But I want to reassure the British people that help is coming,” he said.
“Right now, work is happening across government to assess all the options at our disposal to mitigate the worst effects of the gas crisis,” he added.
But Kwarteng, who is backing Truss to be the next leader of the Conservative party and UK prime minister, said he could not detail exactly what that support would look like.
Kwarteng’s promise that the government was preparing more support comes as energy consultancy Auxilione reportedly forecast that the energy price cap is expected to reach £3,576 in October, rising to £4,799 in January, and finally hitting £6,089 in April.
The UK’s energy regulator, Ofgem, is set to announce the October 2022 price cap on Friday.