Boris Johnson met with utility CEOs in Downing Street as officials fretted about rising energy rates

The worst prediction yet for struggling homes is that the ceiling on energy costs might reach a staggering £5,000 next year, as ministers ‘banged heads together’ at an urgent Downing Street gathering of powerful utility executives that Boris Johnson attended.

According to experts at the energy consultancy Auxilione, with yesterday’s energy costs, regulator Ofgem would be compelled to put the limit at £5,038 annually for the typical home in the three months starting in April.

It also anticipated that costs will hit £4,467 in January, which is £200 more than an already dire prediction by rival expert Cornwall Insight.

This revelation puts more strain on homes throughout Britain.

Given that families consume more gas in the winter, this projection is likely to cause energy users more concern than April’s higher amount.

Right now, the worst-case scenario predicts that a typical home would spend £571 on energy in January.

The maximum price for energy bills is determined using data from typical home use. Your bills will go down if you use less energy.

According to the most recent forecast, the price of gas will be restricted at 18.02p per kilowatt hour and the price of electricity would be 70.34p per kWh.

The updated forecast is based on the current wholesale energy price. Following the wholesale price over many months yields the ultimate price.

It happens only hours before ministers and energy corporations are scheduled to meet and talk about the gloomy winter that lies ahead.

This morning, British energy giants Shell and BP were questioned by Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on a solution to the skyrocketing costs.

Later, it was discovered that Mr. Johnson, who would shortly resign as prime minister, was also there.

It was planned to ask energy executives to provide a breakdown of their projected earnings and investment plans for the next three years.

Ministers have threatened to impose a new windfall tax if they don’t spend more of their “exceptional earnings” in green technology.

As homes suffer, Centrica, the company that owns Shell, BP, and British Gas, announced stellar financial performance, which has angered many.

Liz Truss yesterday at a laid-back chat at Bedford Sports and Social Club in Greater Manchester. Both she and Rishi Sunak have come under pressure to produce a plan for tackling high energy bills

While Labour has advocated for closing a “loophole” in the oil and gas windfall tax to obtain greater assistance funding, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are still being questioned about what they plan to do to assist poor families.

Gordon Brown, a former prime minister, proposes doing away with the price restriction and negotiating lower prices with the heads of the energy industry.

Rising energy costs, according to consumer advocate Martin Lewis, are a “cataclysmic” financial disaster “that imperil lives.”

The Chancellor said to reporters before today’s meeting: “I believe it’s crucial we all come around the table.

I will continue to carry out my duties as Chancellor, but I also want to question them, asking: Are you making the investment?

How can you assist your clients? What else can we achieve as a team? The meeting is being held for that purpose.

He said, “What I want to do tomorrow is better understand how they’re dedicated to that investment in gas, because whatever happens, we need energy security and we’ve got a solid plan that Kwasi and I will continue to press aggressively.”

He made these comments when speaking in Belfast yesterday.

“The second area I want to look at is some of the energy producers, namely the renewable energy producers, whose compensation is based on gas prices.

They haven’t altered their practices in any way, and their input costs haven’t changed at all, but they are receiving a substantially larger return as a result of the extraordinarily high gas price caused by Putin.

Mr. Zahawi said that the Treasury has been putting up “options” for the next prime minister on further assistance that may be provided to citizens this winter.

“The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Business Secretary are really bringing in the chiefs of those large energy corporations to bash some heads together and essentially hold them to account about what they’re going to do with those earnings,” the education secretary James Cleverly said.

Mr. Sunak, a Tory leadership hopeful, promised to support energy bills with “hundreds of pounds more.”

Mr Sunak (pictured during a visit to a synagogue in north London yesterday) has pledged 'hundreds of pounds more' energy bills support

If chosen as prime minister, he told the BBC, it would be his “moral obligation” to provide additional financial assistance, especially to retirees and those receiving benefits.

If elected prime minister, Ms. Truss will “do all I can to help working people,” reversing her prior stance that there should be no more “handouts,” she told GB News while highlighting her preference for tax cuts.

The Foreign Secretary said she was “committed to support people throughout this nation through what will be a very terrible winter” and that she would take action “as quickly as possible” with an emergency budget.

When asked whether she would think about eliminating the VAT on energy bills, which would save households around £210, she said, “There will be an urgent budget to deal with the difficulties we confront.” These considerations must all be taken into account.

Miss Truss refused to provide specifics on the amount of assistance she would provide, but she reiterated her commitment to ‘let people retain more of their own money’ via reduced taxes.

In order to assist people under paying their bills, Labour has urged the Government to reduce investment exemptions in the energy earnings windfall tax, which it has referred to as a “loophole.”

“The Tories are gifting oil and gas firms billions in tax benefits, merely for them to pass it on to shareholders,” said shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.

The fact that this gap ever existed in the first place should make the government embarrassed.

At a time when people are really concerned about how they will pay their expenses, this isn’t appropriate.

There has been significant outrage over Centrica, the company that owns Shell, BP, and British Gas, claiming strong financial performance as families suffer with skyrocketing costs.

In the meanwhile, Mr. Brown told the Guardian that the Government should “stop any further rise in the ceiling” on bills and, after looking at each company’s financial sheet, negotiate lower rates with them individually.

He said that ministers need to temporarily nationalise any service companies that fail.

Time and tide do not stop for anyone. Crises don’t either.

The former Labour prime minister added, “They don’t take vacations, and they don’t gracefully hang fire—certainly not to suit the convenience of a departing PM and the fancies of two prospective successors.”

He continued by saying that Britain should host an urgent G20 meeting to lead the international response to the crisis.

‘British ministers should also be leading the way… in demanding coordinated international action with an emergency G20 early in September to address the fuel, food, inflation, and debt emergencies,’ Mr. Brown said, adding that no one has yet understood this.

Since these are global issues, only internationally coordinated solutions can effectively address them.

A boss at one of the largest energy companies in the UK has joined Mr. Brown in urging the Tory leadership candidates to put aside their differences and collaborate with Boris Johnson on an emergency plan.

In order to find a workable solution for those customers who are most in need this winter, Philippe Commaret, managing director of customers at EDF, said: “We are asking Government and the two Conservative candidates to work with industry.

Customers must be informed that assistance is on the way. Millions of people would experience worry if a decision is postponed, thus conversations must start right now.

Similar requests were made by consumer advocate Martin Lewis, who told broadcasters: “I accept the point that Boris Johnson is running a zombie government and can’t do much, but the two candidates – one of them will be our prime minister – they need to get together in the national interest to tell us the bare minimum of what they will do.”

‘We are engaging with the electricity sector to drive forward reforms and to ensure the market delivers better results for people across the UK,’ a government spokesperson said.

The Government continues to assess the extraordinary profits seen in some areas of the electricity generation sector as well as the appropriate and proportionate steps to be taken, as we announced in May.

Consumer advocate Mr. Lewis said yesterday that the cost of living squeeze was becoming a “national crisis” on par with the COVID-19 pandemic, and that ministers were acting like “zombies.”

‘For every £100 direct debit you presently pay, in October you will be paying £181, and in January you will be paying £215, and that’s on top of the hikes we got in April,’ said Mr. Lewis, who sold his MoneySavingExpert.com website for £87 million in 2012.

Millions of homes just won’t be able to pay that increase, which is devastating for households.

He said, “What we’re confronting here is a financial emergency that endanger lives.”

He stated that an average cost starting in January would be 46% of the complete new state pension.

“I accept the argument that Boris Johnson is leading a zombie government and can’t accomplish much, but the two candidates need to come together in the interest of the country to outline the bare minimum of what they will do.

“If they can’t agree… we need to hear accurate plans right away because the mental health damage for millions of people who are panicked about this is manifest.”

Before the energy price cap is lifted, according to a survey released yesterday by Uswitch, households are already accruing increasing debt to energy suppliers.

According to the estimate, six million homes in the UK owe energy companies a total of about £1.3 billion, which is a threefold increase from the previous year.