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The UK is going through an energy crisis: Britons do not benefit from any tariff shield and the regulator has raised the tariff cap to £3,500 a year for a typical household, i.e. more than 4,000 euros, an impossible bill to pay for many citizens. Liz Truss, who arrived in Downing Street on Tuesday 6 September, pledged to support citizens.
With our correspondent in London, Emily Wine
The Prime Minister has just presented his aid plan to the British Parliament: £2,500 a year maximum for an average household. We are still talking about 2,900 euros a year, but the regulator planned an increase to more than 8,000 euros a year in April. Companies and businesses will also be able to receive more targeted assistance that is more limited in time.
About the financing of this energy guarantee “, no extraordinary tax on the profits of the giants in the sector. Liz Truss has planned to abolish the green tax, this contribution to the energy bill which finances renewable projects. More details will be given in the budget presented at the end of the month. Estimated cost of this aid: more than £130 billion. The opposition welcomes the support with open arms, but is concerned about the long-term consequences of these loans for taxpayers.
The ambition to become a net exporter of energy in 2040
It is a drastic shift from Truss’s campaign, which described direct aid as ” bandages unable to solve the fundamental problems. But the pressure was becoming unsustainable in the face of the cost-of-living crisis, with economists, NGOs, unions and even energy companies warning of a humanitarian catastrophe if nothing was done.
The UK is highly dependent on gas prices, which have risen sevenfold over a year, particularly due to supply tensions since the start of the war in Ukraine. To avoid a repeat of the energy crisis, Britain wants to become a net energy exporter by 2040. As well as renewable energy, former Shell director Liz Truss plans to allow fracking and expand drilling in the North Sea. An ambition that will challenge the government’s goal of achieving CO2 neutrality by 2050.
►To read: UK: “Don’t Pay”, the campaign to revolt against energy prices
(and with AFP)
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