Energy bills help for 1.7mn UK households took too long, say MPs

More than 1.7mn UK households waited “too long” to receive financial support during last year’s energy crisis because of limited government “bandwidth”, an influential cross-party group of MPs has found.

In a report published on Friday, the House of Commons public accounts committee said roughly 900,000 customers in England, Scotland and Wales and 836,000 in Northern Ireland had to wait longer than others to receive monthly payments towards their energy bills.

Criticising the delays, the PAC also warned that it was “very concerned” about ministers’ “lack of urgency” in reforming the energy market in order to prevent energy bills spiralling in future.

Meg Hillier, Labour MP and committee chair, said: “Many of those who most needed help were kept waiting longest for it. For some households, every day left without support presented impossible choices.”

The report marks one of the first large-scale attempts to examine how the UK government responded when domestic and corporate gas and electricity bills soared last year because of the surge in wholesale energy prices linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The energy price cap, which dictates bills for more than 23mn households, climbed to £4,279 a year in January 2023, compared with £1,138 in April 2021. 

The steep rise forced the government to step in and subsidise energy bills, capping typical annual household costs at £2,500 and also paying out six direct monthly payments worth £400 in total in Great Britain and £600 in Northern Ireland.

According to the government, £39.3bn was spent subsidising household bills between October 2022 and March this year, when the lump sum payments ended.

The committee found that while the government put in place support for most companies and households, it “took too long to get support to some of the most vulnerable and hard to reach customers”.

Affected households waited between three and five months longer than others to receive the monthly payments. In Great Britain, most did not have a direct relationship with their supplier, such as people living in park homes or on boats, while Northern Ireland has a different energy regulator and market, complicating the rollout.

The PAC said the former top civil servant at the business department had in evidence said it lacked “bandwidth to look at such a complex market to make sure that support reached all the different groups at the same time”.

Although ministers have said they are exploring changes to the energy market aimed at better protecting consumers, the PAC also noted that they had yet to set a timeframe for wholesale reform.

“If gas prices increase again, consumers and taxpayers will be subject to significant costs again,” it warned.

In response, the government said the PAC had failed “to recognise the complexities of delivering support to households without a direct relationship with a supplier”.

“We’re proud to have delivered nearly £40bn in support, including through the energy price guarantee, getting help to millions in a matter of weeks,” it added.