Our Government has lagged behind others in tackling soaring energy bills.
The UK’s £200 off energy bills per home will not come in until October and has to be repaid in later years.
The other main part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak ’s help package – only announced last month – is a £150 council tax rebate which, campaigners say, some low-income families will miss out on.
Other countries in Europe have put the Government to shame, announcing plans to help as long ago as September.
France
In September Emmanuel Macron’s government said the gas price increase would be limited to 12.6% from October 1, similar to Ofgem’s dual-fuel price cap limit at the time here.
But France also limited increases in power costs to 4%, with largely state-owned supplier EDF offering discount prices.
Spain
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez vowed to remove taxes from home energy bills until May, paid for by a windfall tax on utility firms, and extend the grace period before power firms can cut households off.
Belgium
In early February, it announced a temporary cut in taxes and gave cash to households to compensate for soaring energy prices.
VAT on electricity has been reduced from 21% to 6% from March 1 to July 1, and all households will get a one-off electricity bill discount of 100 euros (£84).
Netherlands
The Government said in October every household would get 430 euros (£360) to offset the jump in prices through a cut in energy taxes.
It followed up recently by confirming plans to temporarily lower taxes on petrol and energy, with Prime Minister Mark Rutte not ruling out more help.
Germany
In late February, Germany’s coalition parties agreed to a roughly 13 billion euro (£11bn) package of measures to help homes cope with surging energy prices, including scrapping a surcharge on electricity bills to support green power.
Italy
Last month government approved measures, including cutting energy bill taxes, worth around 6bn euros (£5bn) to help consumers and firms.
It has also spent £8.4bn since July trying to keep bills down.
Italy’s energy regulator raised electricity prices 55%, and gas 42% at the start of the year.
