A HUGE majority of the public wants the government to provide more support to vulnerable households with their energy bills, new research has found.
Polling for the Warm This Winter campaign found that, following Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s removal of the Winter Fuel Payment from most pensioners, 67 per cent of the public now want to see ministers take action to boost other energy bill help.
And 75 per cent back the government bringing in a social tariff to provide a discount on energy bills to those in greatest need of help — up from 57 per cent before the general election.
The public also backed the social tariff being paid for by the energy industry.
Energy firms continue to rake in profits, with Scottish Power’s parent company Iberdrola revealing yesterday that it saw a jump of 50 per cent in profits this year.
The Spanish firm increased investment in Britain by 75 per cent in the last year, recording a net profit of €5.47 billion (£4.55bn) in the first nine months of this year, compared with €3.64bn (£3.03bn) in the same period last year.
Tracking by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition shows that over £457bn in profits have been generated by firms since the start of the energy bills crisis.
Warm This Winter campaign manager Caroline Simpson said companies like Iberdrola and Scottish Power are “the real villains in the broken energy system,” saying they “laugh all the way to the bank while pensioners, the millions of families in fuel poverty and the disabled, are too scared to turn the heating on.”
She said: “That’s why we urge the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to use the first Labour Budget in 14 years to set this country on the right course with a programme of investment to reverse over a decade of neglect.
“From ramping up renewable energy to insulating and ventilating the nation's leaky homes, we can and must upgrade our crumbling infrastructure and bring down everyone’s bills for good.
“And she must also consider how to support vulnerable households with their energy bills now, taking some of the excessive profits these heartless energy companies make and using them to create an affordable social tariff.
“This approach would end once and for all the energy shocks caused by the oil [and] gas industry profiteers and their allies who rip off ordinary people.”
Ms Simpson said: “Hard-pressed bill payers… want to see this programme paid for by energy industry profits.
“Most also agree the only way to bring down everyone’s bills in the long term is to help households reduce their energy use, by insulating and ventilating the UK’s housing, which is some of the leakiest in Europe.
“But in the meantime, we must ensure we protect the most vulnerable people in our society from the continuing high cost of energy driven by volatile gas prices.”
End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis called on the government to prioritise delivering a social tariff immediately as well as longer-term reforms to boost renewables and its Warm Homes Plan.
He said: “This autumn is being dominated by the chancellor’s cold-hearted decision to remove winter fuel payments from older people, which we know will hit those with disabilities and pre-existing health conditions very hard indeed.
“But not only is this the wrong policy from a public health perspective, it also flies against popular opinion.
“Protecting vulnerable consumers from energy prices that remain way above 2021 levels is a popular and easy to implement policy.”
Scope policy manager David Southgate warned that “life costs a lot more when you’re disabled.
“Disabled people have to spend more of their income on energy and continually face eye-watering bills: for charging vital equipment like wheelchairs, hoists and breathing equipment, or for more heating to stay warm and well.
“Disabled households are now beyond breaking point. They have cut back everything they can and are increasingly forced into unmanageable debt.”
The charity is calling for discounted bills for disabled people to “end the impossible situation millions of disabled people face trying to make ends meet.”