Business Energy Support plan announced

New Prime Minister Liz Truss has had a hectic few days. Confirmed on Monday as the victor in the Conservative Party leadership race, she met the Queen on Tuesday and appeared at Prime Minister’s Questions for the first time yesterday. In between, she’s appointed her new cabinet, including Kwasi Kwarteng as the new Chancellor.

Today’s agenda included the announcement of a range of policies to address the enormous rises in energy prices with the looming increase in the energy cap.

The details are yet to be made clear, but the summary so far includes the following:

• Average household energy bills will be capped at £2,500 a year from October.

• This support will last for two years.

• Businesses will be supported for six months, receiving ‘equivalent support’ to that provided to households.

• Beyond the six month period of support for businesses, ‘vulnerable industries’ will receive further, targeted support.

• A range of strategies have been outlined to reduce the UK’s reliance on imported energy.

As always, the detail at this stage is sparse. The new Chancellor will announce how these support packages will be paid for as part of a fiscal event later in the month. Energy suppliers have said that they will also provide more detail to householders later in the month.

When we have more detail about the implementation of the business support package, and the ‘vulnerable industries’ we will of course let you know. Our expectation is that these will include the beleaguered hospitality and leisure industries, but to say anything beyond that would be speculation.