RISHI Sunak is braced to give every household in Britain hundreds of pounds off their energy bill to help with the cost of living crisis.
The Chancellor, who is expected to announce the plans in the House of Commons tomorrow, could reportedly cut bills by £400 with a windfall tax on oil and gas firms.
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He will scrap plans for a “rebate and clawback scheme”, which would have given people a £200 discount on their bills from October, The Times reports.
Mr Sunak will instead convert the effective loans – which would have been paid back in heftier bills later – into grants given to energy companies to dish out.
The Times reports the value of the discount could be increased to as much as £400, with no need to pay the sum back.
The plans, which could set the Government back £10billion, will form part of a “mix and match” package with a series of measures to help the most vulnerable cope with soaring energy bills as well as inflation.
Ministers have been considering cutting council tax bills — beyond the £150 rebate for bands A to D already announced — and increasing benefits.
However they have ruled out restoring the £20 universal credit uplift amid concerns that any increase will become permanent.
Mr Sunak and Boris Johnson have rejected plans to cut VAT on energy and fuel for now.
They are also yet to decide on potential cuts to VAT and income tax, set to be delayed until the Autumn Budget.
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The latest support package is expected to partly be funded by a windfall tax on the excess profits of oil and gas companies, likely to come into effect in the autumn.
A government source told The Times the measures will be “temporary and targeted”.
It comes after energy regulator Ofgem warned household energy bills will soar by another £800 in October, to £2,800.
The huge hike means even with Government help, families will be left pinching their pockets.
Boris Johnson today admitted Britain was in a “very difficult fiscal position” after the Covid pandemic.
He warned households will “see pressures for a while to come” at a Downing Street press conference this afternoon.
But he added: “We will continue to respond, just as we responded throughout the pandemic.
“It won’t be easy, we won’t be able to fix everything. But what I would also say is we will get through it and we will get through it well.”
