Liz Truss has been criticized for appearing to repeatedly get her own energy price cap wrong in a number of media interviews this morning.
The Prime Minister has insisted on a number of occasions that people will not pay more than £2,500 on their energy bills – but that is not right.
Her own government’s website explains that the figure is simply an average of what Britons will pay, while the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy also explained it in a series of tweets just yesterday.
“The Energy Price Guarantee will reduce the unit cost of electricity and gas so that a typical UK household will pay an average of around £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next 2 years, starting on 1 October 2022,” it said in him. reads.
Instead of capping the total household bill, the policy limits the price of the unit costs that people will have to pay.
Fact-checking organization Full Fact has said unequivocally that Ms Truss’ claim is wrong.
“This is false,” he concludes.
“This figure is based on the amount a ‘typical’ household would pay, based on average energy use, but is not an upper limit on the total cost of bills.”
The blunder followed a market crash that saw the pound plummet and emergency intervention by the Bank of England.
This morning the Prime Minister was asked by BBC Radio Kent listeners to play a trio.
“What on earth were you thinking?”, “How can we ever trust the Conservatives with our economy again?” and “Are you ashamed of what you’ve done?” the host said.
Mrs Truss replied: “… What we have done is we have taken action to make sure that from this weekend people will not be paying a typical fuel bill of more than £2,500.”
She repeated the claim in various other local BBC radio interviews this morning, telling Radio Nottingham: “The biggest part of the package we’ve announced is supporting energy bills, making sure people in this country don’t face facing energy bills of over £2,500.’
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Various social media users pointed out the error, but it did not seem to be understood by the presenters.
Martin Lewis tweeted yesterday: “Please share so we can stop the confusion.
“THERE IS NO £2,500 LIMIT ON ENERGY BILLS.
“Instead, the new October 1 guarantee, like the old restrictions, is limiting
– Daily top-up (28p gas, 46p electricity)
– & Unit prices (10p/kWh gas, 34p/kWh electricity)
“So use more, pay more. £2,500 is exactly what someone with average use would pay
Ofgem explains: “The price cap limits the rates a supplier can charge for its default tariffs.
“These include the fixed charge and the price per kWh of electricity and gas (the units of measurement from which your bill is calculated).
“It doesn’t cap your total bill, which will change depending on how much energy you use.”
For electricity, the daily fixed charge will rise to 46p for October to the end of December, with 1p for the April to September period. The kWh charge will almost double, rising to 52p from 28p.
On gas, the daily standing charge also rises by one penny to 28p, while the kWh charge more than doubles from 7p to 15p.
Elaborating on the gaffe, Full Fact explained: “This is false and a mistake the Prime Minister has made repeatedly. Full Fact last reported on the issue when Ms. Truss made the claim on CNN on September 25. Following the claim, Full Fact wrote to the Prime Minister, asking her to admit the error and ensure she was describing the policy accurately going forward.
“At other times during the round of local BBC radio interviews this morning, Mrs Truss said that £2,500 would be the maximum ‘typical’ fuel bill, which is more accurate, although potentially still confusing, as not specifically mentioning the use.
“The Government’s Energy Price Guarantee does not ensure that no one pays more than £2,500 on their energy bills. Instead, it caps the price per unit of gas and electricity – meaning a typical household with average consumption will spend £2,500.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted Downing Street for clarification and comment.
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