Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies has welcomed the actions outlined by the new Prime Minister today to deal with the soaring energy prices faced by families and businesses across the UK.
The Rt Hon Liz Truss announced earlier today that her Government is moving immediately to introduce a new Energy Price Guarantee that will give people certainty on energy bills.
This Guarantee – which includes a temporary suspension of green levies – means that from 1st October a typical household will pay no more than £2,500 per year for each of the next two years.
The Prime Minister's plan also includes supporting all businesses, charities and public sector organisations with their energy costs this winter – offering an equivalent guarantee for six months.
After those six months, further support will be provided to vulnerable sectors, such as hospitality, including our local pubs.
Welcoming today's announcement, James said:
"The new Prime Minister promised she would make the energy crisis her priority and within days of her appointment she has done just that.
"Today's news will be a huge relief to many living and running businesses in the Vale of Clwyd who were gravely concerned about how they were going to pay extortionate bills.
"This guarantee will save a typical household £1,000 a year and comes in addition to the existing £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme, plus the targeted help for pensioners (£300), the disabled (£150), those on means-tested benefits (£650) and all in Council Tax bands A to D (£150). It supersedes the Ofgem price cap, and has been agreed with energy retailers.
"It is also in addition to the recent reduction of the Universal Credit taper rate and increase of the work allowance (worth around £1,000 a year for two million low income families), the rise in the income threshold at which people start paying National Insurance from £9,500 to £12,570 (worth over £330 individually), the increase in the National Living Wage to £9.50 an hour, the increase in the Warm Home Discount to £150 for three million low income households, the increase in the Household Support Fund to £1.5 billion to help the lowest income households with food and utility costs, and discretionary funding available via local authorities.
"The plans will ensure that residents and businesses are supported through this winter and next, relieving the unmanageable pressures that had been feared. I would however stress that while the price per unit of energy will effectively be capped far below what we were otherwise expecting, energy costs will remain higher than in the past and the insulation of homes and general reduction of energy use where possible is important to keep bills as low as possible.
"Nobody in this day and age should be worried about putting the heating on, but sadly Putin's war and the Covid pandemic have landed our country and the rest of Europe in such a position.
"Therefore, as well as welcoming the £2,500 cap on energy bills and support for businesses, I also very much welcome the actions the Prime Minister announced the Government will be taking to ensure we are never in this position again, including through the establishment of an energy supply taskforce to ramp up supply, and new oil and gas licensing. Well over half of our electricity is now produced from renewables and the UK has led the way in rapidly phasing out coal - but we need to continue to rapidly expand new, self-sufficient green energy production.
"As the Prime Minister said her statement, her approach to dealing with the global energy crisis is "pro-growth, pro-business and pro the investment we need for energy security" and "this will help us build a stronger, more resilient and more secure United Kingdom."