British Gas hands energy lifeline to millions of Britons to SLASH bills by up to £750 | Science | News
As millions of Britons face the threat of fuel poverty this winter, energy supplier British Gas has announced that will donate a tenth of its profits to help ease the suffering faced by customers with eye-watering bills. The company’s owner Centrica announced that this support package would continue for the “duration of the energy crisis”.
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The company added that this money will be sent to an existing support fund, which could treble the help available for the poorest customers this winter.
Centrica, which is enjoyed massive profits this year on accounting for soaring wholesale gas prices, noted that thousands of households would receive grants of anywhere between £250-£750.
While this scheme could support some of the most vulnerable British Gas customers, experts have warned that figures close to £100billion was needed to tackle the crisis nationally.
Earlier this week, Keith Anderson, the head of Scottish Power met with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, where he introduced such a plan to freeze the energy price cap, which is set to be raised this week.
Industry analysts warn that by this October, the price cap for household bills could rise to around £3,500, and further skyrocket to around £6,000 by next April.
British Gas’ offering of support, will be based on the company’s retail supply profits, which was a staggering £98million during the first half of the year.
However, they noted that their initial donation will be somewhere around £12million, and would go to customers suffering from fuel poverty and having savings of less than £1,000.
Millions of households in the UK face the threat of fuel poverty as a result of the price cap increase, where they could pay a significant portion of their income for energy bills, 10 percent in this case.
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“We’re proud to have put together a £25-plus million customer support package which will grow.”
This comes after the UK retail head of energy company EDF warned of a “dramatic and catastrophic winter for customers”.
Philippe Commaret predicted that by the start of 2023, “half of UK households might be in fuel poverty”.
The rise in energy bills, combined with inflation – now forecast to rise to over 18 percent – has sparked anger among Britons hit hardest by the price hike.
Campaign groups such as Don’t Pay UK have sprung up, with tens and hundreds of thousands of people committing to withholding energy payments in October.
