© Christopher Furlong/Leon Neal/Getty ImagesLiz Truss • Kwasi Kwarteng
Ministers could face an
additional £23bn price tag for covering extra household energy costs of £900 this autumn,
rising to £90bn next year, a new paper by the Institute for Government has found.
The paper, looking at the options for Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak in No 10, also warned the government should
plan for prolonged rises in energy bills by going a lot further in making public appeals to use less gas - for example by informing consumers about the cost savings from turning down thermostats - and in committing to building more energy efficient homes to help protect consumers.
No 10 and Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary and close ally of Truss, have been resisting appeals to the public to use less energy. However, the next prime minister, likely to be Truss, faces some very difficult choices on entering office on
how far to subsidise energy bills.Boris Johnson's government has already spent £33bn on covering 90% of the then predicted increase in energy bills but soaring prices mean a further £23bn would be needed to cover average bills that are forecasted to be
£900 more per household than was predicted just three months ago, according to the IfG.
Comment: If San Francisco continues on its downward trajectory, there aren't going to be any residents left to pay taxes in the first place.
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