Energy debt has more than tripled to over £4.4bil (US$5.8bil) in the past five years. — Bloomberg
LONDON: UK lawmakers say the government should use excess profits from grid companies to tackle record household energy debt.
An increasing number of British households are unable to pay their energy bills, which ballooned after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine boosted wholesale power and gas prices.
That energy debt has more than tripled to over £4.4bil (US$5.8bil) in the past five years.
At the same time, grid companies have outperformed so-called price controls, the regulatory system that limits how much they can earn based on expected costs and a target rate of return.
Grid companies earned around £4bil in windfall profits since 2021, according to a report from the House of Commons Energy Security and Net-Zero Committee published yesterday.
“These profits have come simply from outperforming price controls, even as millions of families ration energy or go without heat,” committee chair Bill Esterson said. — Bloomberg
