Sir Keir Starmer has pledged that people will not “pay a penny more” on their winter energy bills as he prepares to unveil Labour’s plan to ease the cost of living crisis.
Ahead of a full reveal on Monday, the Labor leader says his party’s £29bn energy plan will save the typical family £1,000 immediately, control energy costs for the future and help tackle inflation.
The party says this would be achieved by preventing the energy cap from rising this winter, which would be paid for with an additional tax on the oil and gas giants.
The price cap, which is the most businesses in England, Wales and Scotland can charge the average customer for energy costs, should remain at £1,971.
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Energy analysts have predicted that typical energy bills could rise to around £3,500 in October and more than £4,200 in January.
And a new report suggests energy bills will cost more than two months of the average house payment next year unless the government intervenes.
Labour’s “emergency package” plans include:
• Freeze the price limit, which according to the party will reduce inflation by 4%
• Support for customers not protected by the price cap
• Equalize prices for people with prepaid meters and for those who pay bills monthly
• Close a gap in the government’s energy benefit rate
• Promise to use £14bn of untargeted funding already committed to keep bills from rising
• 19 million insulation coming across the country over the next decade to reduce energy demand and lower bills
Read more: What is an extraordinary tax, how much do oil companies pay and has the UK tried it before?
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2:41 Work to deliver the cost of living plan
Labor has said its energy plans are fully costed and will be paid for by closing “a significant tax loophole” in the windfall tax announced by the then chancellor Rishi Sunak earlier this year.
The party says the new investment bonuses within the policy mean for every £1 invested, 91.25p. will be returned to companies with additional tax breaks, despite oil and gas producers announcing spectacular profits.
Labor says scrapping these new investment allowances and backdating the start date to when the party called for a windfall tax in January would raise £8bn, which could ease living costs of homes
The party has also detailed a plan for sustainability and energy security, including doubling the UK’s offshore wind capacity, investing in solar, tidal and hydrogen and bringing forward new nuclear capacity.
Sir Keir said Labour’s plan would “fix the problems immediately and for the future”, as he warned that the UK’s cost of living crisis was “getting worse”.
“We’ve had 12 years of a Conservative government that failed to prepare and refused to invest, leaving bills higher and our country less safe,” he added.
“This is a national emergency. It needs strong leadership and urgent action.”
Timid Starmer tackles the cost of living crisis
Liz Bates
Political correspondent
@wizbates
It is a reflection of the power vacuum at the top of UK politics that it is the Labor leader who has come under the most pressure to come up with a plan to raise energy prices, rather than the Prime Minister, who appears being on his second vacation in as many years. weeks.
After criticism for being too coy about ways to tackle the cost of living crisis, Keir Starmer has gone big.
It suggests a seismic intervention that would freeze the energy price cap, protecting customers by shifting the financial burden back to the energy giants.
It will certainly play well with those who are bracing for a huge increase in energy costs in the coming months.
And with many charities, who have been warning that the most vulnerable simply won’t be able to cope this winter.
It will probably be received less enthusiastically by Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
Conservative leadership hopefuls have been pressed to say how they will help those facing hardship, and are now expected to explain why freezing the energy price cap is not an option.
Over the next few days, this could shape the campaign and be the moment the Labor leader finally makes the impact his critics are calling for.
Earlier this week, the Liberal Democrats called for the energy cap to be scrapped entirely.
The government has announced that households will receive £400 to help pay their fuel bills this autumn, but Boris Johnson admitted on Friday that current plans do not go far enough.
The Prime Minister also reiterated his insistence that it is up to his successor to “make important fiscal decisions” after talks with energy chiefs ended without new measures to ease the cost of living crisis.
Johnson’s successor will not be announced until September 5.
Read more: How the UK’s rising bills will become a matter of life and death
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14:11 “More help in October”
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Tory leadership hopeful Sunak has unveiled a plan to slash rising energy bills for up to 16 million vulnerable people, which he hopes will take him to No 10 Downing Street.
The former chancellor has also said he will legislate to make the UK “energy independent” by 2045 and put in place immediate support for households, especially the most vulnerable, to face rising energy bills.
Rival Liz Truss has said cutting taxes is the best way to help with winter living costs.
But the Foreign Secretary has rejected calls for an extraordinary tax on the profits of oil and gas companies.