The government will announce tomorrow that it will cover the costs of more than £1 in every £3 of gas consumed by businesses and households over the next six months. There has been no subsidy of a market price on this scale in British history.
Estimates of the final bill for taxpayers range from £100 billion to £200 billion, or more than the annual cost of running the NHS – if the scheme for households lasts for two years, as promised, and the separate one for all businesses runs for six months, to be followed by a less ambitious business scheme for another 18 months.
This is a subsidy of more than a third of the price for business, and a fraction under a third for households
Early tomorrow the Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg will announce the mechanism for subsidising energy costs for businesses from 1 October, and he will announce more details for the energy price guarantee for households. All
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