Ministers are close to finalising plans for a two-pronged package of support for businesses to help with energy costs all the way through next winter — when prices are feared to rise sharply again — and into spring 2024.
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, is drawing up a package that would give low-level universal support to all companies with their energy costs for the next 15 months — while providing extra targeted support to energy-intensive businesses.
This autumn, the government agreed to subsidise an energy price cap for six months under the Energy Bill Relief Scheme but companies had been facing a cliff edge when the scheme ends in late March. Beyond that the state would only subsidise a handful of the most “vulnerable” industries, ministers have repeatedly said.
Hunt’s announcement, which is expected before Christmas, would mark a major shift in the government’s approach to helping businesses with their energy bills, which have soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent gas prices spiralling upwards.
- The Financial Times. To read the full story click here
