The government has announced that every household in the UK is to receive a £400 discount on their energy bills in October.
Almost 8m of the country’s most vulnerable households will also get a one-off £650 cost of living payment, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said. It comes as part of a £15bn support package aimed at helping people on low incomes deal with soaring prices - with extra help also available for pensioners and the disabled.
To help pay for the package, Mr Sunak announced a 25% windfall tax - or ‘Energy Profits Levy’ - on oil and gas companies, which have seen ‘extraordinary profits’ recently. The move comes a week after Tory MPs were whipped to vote against Labour’s windfall tax proposal and a day after Sue Gray's critical report into the lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street.
