High energy bills among the causes of inflation in the UK are still unchanged even though the Bank of England (BOE) has raised interest rates 6 times.
In fact, the annual price limit for energy in the country is expected to increase again in October, which will surely burden the UK people with costs reaching £3,000 (RM15,900) a year.
Various efforts have been taken by the UK government to protect households such as tax cuts, energy bill rebates and direct payments. However, since then, the price of natural gas and energy has continued to increase, causing the people to remain burdened.
Researchers at the Institute of Government said the government would need to spend an extra £23 billion to protect households from around 90% of expected increases in energy bills up to April 2023 and cost a further £90 billion in April 2024.
The forecast is in line with the proposed costs of Scottish Power, one of the UK's biggest energy companies which has urged the government to protect millions of households by freezing their bills for two years.
It said the UK government should cap energy bills at £2,000 (RM10,600) and give suppliers money to cover the much higher costs of gas and electricity.
The estimated £100 billion cost of spending will be helped by increased government borrowing, financed by general taxation over the next decade or so.
However, the budget that the government has to bear appears to be greater than the country's expenditure on aid during the Covid-19 pandemic which cost almost £70 billion through the workers' wage subsidy programme.
So far this year, the government has offered around £33 billion in support to households to help with energy costs with more help expected to be released.
The pressure from high energy costs is seen to continue to burden UK households for a longer period and the government needs to find a way to deal with it more effectively.
