Brown presents £1bn help package

The suspense is finally over. Gordon Brown presented a £1bn package on September 11 to help British households in cutting down their energy bills.

The package has a list of measures that his government believes, will help alleviate the woes of millions of households struggling to pay their energy bills. Nearly 11 million homes will be provided free cavity wall and loft insulation over the coming few years. Others will get a grant which will cover fifty percent cost of getting the same work done for their homes.

Another 600,000 poorest families have their energy tariffs lowered before the end of current year. This is subject to an agreement from energy companies. Measures will also be initiated to ensure that household with pre-paid meters do not pay higher tariffs.

In case of a severe winter, cold weather payments would be raised to £25 per week from the usual £8.50.

Mr Brown insisted that the measures were designed to provide real and lasting changes in the way energy is being used. The measures will be mostly funded by six big energy companies. This will be in lieu of imposing a windfall tax on them which was being demanded strongly by trade unions and many Labour MPs.

Announcement of Prime Minister’s relief package was partially overshadowed by remark of E. ON UK’s chief of power trading, Mark Owen-Lloyd. He joked at an Ofgem seminar on September 10 that a chillier winter would mean good for their business. The company however, was quick to issue an apology.

Please visit www.eon-uk.com and www.ofgem.gov.uk for more