Number 10 said earlier this week that people should continue to use as much gas and electricity as they wanted because there was no risk of a winter blackout. Boris Johnson’s spokesman insisted there was no need for Britain to take such measures because, unlike most EU countries, the UK is not dependent on Russian gas imports. But Zahawi, pointing out that Russia is cutting off gas supplies to European countries, said on Friday: “The reality is that we all have to look at energy consumption.” He added: “It’s a difficult time. There is war on our continent. Very few expected war. Wars are fought in far away places. Now he is here with us. We must remain resilient.” Former government advisers have previously urged the government to copy the EU by telling the public about the need to reduce demand to avoid supply shortages – as well as helping to reduce rising fuel bills. Zahawi’s intervention comes as experts warn there is a risk of winter blackouts – especially if problems in Norway and France reduce their exports to the UK. Adam Bell, the government’s former head of energy strategy, predicted a 10 per cent chance of several days this winter when “for a small number of hours some domestic consumers will lose power”. Blackouts are part of the “worst-case scenario” in the government’s emergency plan, according to reports earlier this month that warned emergency measures could be in place until January. Energy industry sources told The Independent they were preparing to “implement” contingency plans next month, warning that gas-fired power stations could stop rations in one scenario. Britain imported no fuel from Russia for the first time on record in June, official figures show, after the government phased out fossil fuel purchases from Putin’s country following the invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ofgem confirmed a staggering 80 per cent rise in the energy price cap on Friday – sending the average household’s annual energy bills from £1,971 to £3,549 since October. Charity leaders, Ofgem and Energy UK – the body representing the big energy companies – all said the government had “stepped in” and offered extra financial support to cope with the most vulnerable during the winter. Zahawi said he could not commit to further help on the energy bills – saying he could only “develop options” for either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, depending on who becomes prime minister early next month. Truss, who remains strong favorite to win the Tory contest, promised on Friday to provide “immediate support” – but has yet to commit to additional direct payments. The chancellor said “help is coming” – saying he would prefer “targeted” support to the poorest from the next prime minister – as he admitted the current support package would not cover the huge rises coming from October 1. Zahawi said: “We know this is not enough. We need to do more … we are working out these options for both households and businesses so that the incoming Prime Minister on September 5 can make these decisions.” Speaking to broadcasters on Friday, Boris Johnson also claimed his successor as Prime Minister would “increase” the existing “pipeline” of financial payments aimed at easing the pain of soaring energy bills. “That’s clear now that it’s going to increase, it’s going to increase, with extra cash that the government is clearly going to announce in September,” he told broadcasters. Energy bill crisis: Boris Johnson promises ‘more cash’ to help households But Truss has yet to commit to additional cash. Writing in the Daily Mail on Friday, the leadership frontrunner promised “decisive action” to give “immediate support” to the energy bills in an apparent change of course. But then she repeated her previous pledges to cut taxes, including reversing the rise in national insurance and reducing green levies on energy bills. The Tory contest favorite argued it was not “right” to announce the full plan before the contest was over or saw all the analysis being prepared in Whitehall. Both Energy UK and Ofgem said either Truss or Sunak should “step in” and “take further action” to support struggling households. Adam Scorer, chief executive of National Energy Action (NEA), said 8.9 households had experienced fuel poverty since October, saying a commitment to extra support was now needed. “It’s up to the government to step in and prevent a cost-of-living crisis from becoming a cost-of-living crisis,” he told Sky News – warning that the poorest were “facing Armageddon in winter”. Savings expert Martin Lewis also warned that people will die this winter as the energy price cap is set to soar by 80% in October. “Let me be clear, ‘disastrous’ or not,” he tweeted. “More help is desperately needed for the poorest, or people will die this winter because of the unaffordability of an 80 per cent energy price rise so far.” The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the announced price rise would add an extra £490 to a typical household’s energy bill between October and December. The think tank said the support package announced by the then chancellor Sunak in May would now cover only 47 per cent of the increase and would cost an extra £14bn to cover the same proportion of the rise in bills. “Whoever becomes the next prime minister is likely to announce a substantial support package very soon after taking office,” said Isaac Delestre, research economist at the IFS. In a similar assessment, the Resolution Foundation said the price cap increase meant winter energy bills were set to average around £500 a month for the three months from October. The Resolution Foundation proposed a 1 per cent “solidarity tax” and a new social tariff system that could reduce bills by 30 per cent.
