People are struggling to pay their energy bills – here’s a simple idea that could help

‘The recent white paper offered no new immediate help with bills, nor any progress on energy efficiency, and only weak aspirations on renewable energy supplies.’ Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

Here is the sure sign of a government in a death spiral, devoid of ideas, plans or solutions. Can they really stand by and do next to nothing while shocking energy bills land this month? Already the poorest people on expensive prepay meters find their electricity running out at the speed of light. If it’s bad now, “a truly horrific winter” lies ahead, warned energy companies in parliament this week. Bills will shoot up again in October, just as people turn up their heating.

The government’s response has been nugatory, its mean mitigations mostly in loans that only stoke future problems for households: high energy prices are not set to be a brief spike. When energy companies warn that some 40% of households will fall into fuel poverty, with thousands telling them already about their inability to pay, inaction is not an option. Food banks are already overwhelmed, with long queues for the most basic of supplies. Laissez-faire is unthinkable.