LIZ Truss will today freeze energy bills at £2,500 and greenlight an expansion of North Sea drilling.
She will reveal a cap on wholesale prices for at least four months, enabling lower prices for households and businesses.
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The new PM’s first major announcement will signal a shift back to fossil fuels to shore up Britain’s supply.
The £100 billion bailout will help hard-up Brits as the cap was set to spiral from the current £1,971 to £3,549 next month.
Households are also still expected to get the £400 energy bills discount announced by former Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Ms Truss said last night: “We will take action immediately to help people and businesses with bills but also take decisive action to tackle the root cause of these problems, so that we are not in this position again.”
She had earlier told MPs: “I want to see us use more of our energy supply, including more oil and gas from the North Sea and nuclear power.”
But she slapped down calls to extend the windfall tax on firms’ profits to help pay the bill – hitting out at Labour for their “same old tax and spend” stance.
As part of today’s energy package the firms will be forced to plough billions more into boosting supply, beefing up energy security, and coughing up cash to help insulate Britain’s leaky homes.
Experts at the Legatum Institute said the scheme will prevent 1.5 million people being plunged into poverty – but another million will still fall below the line.
