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Labour leader Andy Burnham eyes overhaul to cut energy bills
The proposal would cost taxpayers £3.2bn a year, cut about £130 from average household bills, and include £2.7bn to wipe consumer electricity debt for roughly 2 million households.
Labour leader Andy Burnham is considering an energy package aimed at lowering household bills by changing how gas is charged and by making heat pumps cheaper to run than gas boilers, according to a proposal being examined by his team and developed with the thinktank Nesta.
The plan would remove some policy levies from gas bills and shift relative pricing between electricity and gas, which Nesta argues would make clean heating options more affordable and reduce average bills by about £130 a year.
Nesta also says the government should clear a backlog of consumer electricity debts at a one-off cost of £2.7bn, providing debt relief for about 2 million households, while cutting the £29 annual charge households pay to cover unpaid bills.
The costs would need to be covered in the new chancellor’s first budget this autumn, potentially through tax rises, and the package targets gas standing charges that critics say disproportionately affect low-income households.