A new winter discount is Energy UK's demand as unions fight an hours-threshold gap
Energy UK said the 150-pound discount is not reaching households in need, with supplier debt at 4.7 billion pounds. Unions warned a threshold of 8 to 48 hours could leave the guaranteed hours right short of the manifesto.
Economics & Markets··Morning
The 150-pound discount, Energy UK says, is not reaching households that need it
Energy UK chief executive Dhara Vyas said persistently high bills and record levels of debt show the present system is not reaching the people who need it, and proposed a better-targeted social discount. The group said the existing 150-pound discount is not enough and that bills are unaffordable for millions of households. Energy UK says the current discount reaches 6 million customers while another 2.5 million households with a medical condition or a draughty home, which use more energy, fall outside it. Ofgem reported that customers owed suppliers 4.7 billion pounds at the end of last winter.[1]
A 4 per cent Wednesday cap rise is what Cornwall Insight expects
Ofgem will announce the October cap on Wednesday. The consultancy Cornwall Insight expects the quarterly cap to rise 4 per cent on Wednesday. The cap rose a sharper 13 per cent in July. Wholesale prices have risen since the end of last winter; the Iran war began in February. Energy UK's proposed scheme is costed at 1.9 billion pounds and would offer 450 pounds to some households.[1]
Usdaw and GMB warn that an 8-to-48-hour threshold would narrow the guaranteed-hours right
The government's consultation document sets an upper hours threshold that would exclude workers whose existing contract already guarantees more than that from the new right to a contract matching the hours they actually work; the threshold could be set anywhere between 8 and 48 hours. Joanne Thomas, general secretary of the shop workers' union Usdaw, said the right must apply to everyone up to and including full-time workers or loopholes will make it meaningless. Ross Holden of the GMB warned that without a major rethink the policy will not match the manifesto. Unite argued that a regularity requirement floated by the government would exclude a large number of workers. The Employment Rights Act is already law, but the zero-hours changes are not due to start until next year and much of the detail is unsettled. The TUC has called the warnings from business groups scaremongering.[2]
