Government to unveil fuel help package
The government will on Thursday unveil a package of measures to help householders struggling with soaring energy bills.
Hauliers to call on Darling to scrap fuel duty increaseThe measures are expected to include up to 900 million pounds of extra cash to help people to insulate their homes, industry sources said.
Chancellor Alistair Darling has told power companies they need to do more to assist customers facing high gas and electricity costs.
Darling has stopped short, however, of bowing to demands from some members of the Labour Party, green campaigners and trade unions to impose a windfall tax on the utility companies.
While supporters of a tax claim the profits of the firms would enable them to absorb its impact, the companies say it could leave them unable to invest in new power stations, wind farms and fuel storage assets.
Environmental lobby group Friends of the Earth, which supports a windfall tax, said in a statement that it feared ministers' proposals would be inadequate.
"Although the government has indicated that energy efficiency will be the focus of its fuel poverty announcement, Friends of the Earth is concerned its plans will not be ambitious enough," the statement said.
Dr Garry Felgate, Chief Executive of the Energy Retail Association, said energy companies understood the problems faced by householders, but that a windfall tax was not the answer.
"We have always maintained that the best way to combat fuel poverty is via a long-term, thorough strategy that goes beyond this winter alone," he said in a statement.
Ministers were due to finalise details of their package with the UK's "big six" energy companies on Wednesday afternoon, the sources said.
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