Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is being urged to reverse a planned increase to the government energy price guarantee and pass on a reduction in wholesale energy prices after Ofgem published its reduced-price cap.

This comes as news as the next increase in energy bills is scheduled to happen in April.

In April, household bills are expected to jump from £2,100 to £3,000 and the UK Government are not doing enough to help. The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) will become less generous and the current £400 discount for all bills will end.

In January the EGP was £4,279 and will decrease to £3,280 in April due to the falling of wholesale prices.

That is also despite wholesale gas prices dropping by 75% since their peak in the summer. The SNP is calling on the Chancellor to pass on this price drop to consumers by reducing its energy price guarantee cap by 20% to £2,000.

Commenting, Christina McKelvie MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse said:

“Every single person in the UK is affected by this crisis and especially during a cost-of-living crisis. The UK Government need to help support people to survive.

“The Scottish Government have shown compassion to those who are suffering the detrimental impacts of the cost of living crisis, the UK government have not. I call on the UK government to intervene and help those who need it most.

“The UK government will actually be spending less on the energy price guarantee because of the reduction in the Ofgem cap, so households should be seeing the impact of that on their energy bills. Instead, the Chancellor is planning on keeping the surplus whilst energy bills skyrocket again.

“If Scotland became independent, we could make use of our renewable energy and have the people of Scotland benefit from Scottish resources.”