Response to BEIS consultation: Energy Bills Support – Managing the impact of the energy price shock on consumer bills scheme

NEA’s Response to the BEIS Consultation: Energy Bills Support – Managing the Impact of the Energy Price Shock on Consumer Bills Scheme. NEA argues that there are significant deficiencies of the scheme:

• Certain groups of households are at risk of receiving less, or no benefit from the rebate half of the scheme. The consultation identifies these issues but does not address them.
• The recovery of the levy puts a disproportionate burden on the poorest households to pay for a policy that they are less likely to benefit from.
• Simplicity is not the route to the optimal policy design, and the objective of the Government should not be to find the simplest solution, but the best solution for the poorest households that can be practically delivered.

The administration costs of the scheme will be passed through to consumers, meaning that over a 6-year period, every household’s energy costs will have increased as a result of the scheme being implemented.