LONDON, England - Businesses struggling with soaring energy costs welcomed the British government's move to cap wholesale electricity and gas costs for businesses at less than half the market rate beginning next month.
Wholesale prices for electricity will be capped at 211 pounds $239 per megawatt hour MWh and 75 pounds per MWh for gas.
Finance Minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, said he was due to deliver a fiscal update this week and that we have stepped in to stop businesses collapsing, protect jobs and limit inflation.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, gas and electricity prices in Europe went up, and have remained volatile since then. The final unit prices for the scheme will be confirmed on Sept. 30.
The cost of giving cost figures will depend on where the price of energy goes over the winter, and that's very difficult to predict, and I can't give you an absolute cost, according to Jacob Rees-Mogg, Business Minister.
He said that it will be unquestionably in the tens of billions of pounds.
The government is making several announcements this week aimed at averting an imminent economic crisis.
Kwarteng is expected to set out some details on how he will pay for the energy scheme, while at the same time delivering on promises to cut taxes, although the total cost of the energy scheme will depend on market prices over the coming months.
The business energy scheme will be in place from Oct. 1 to Mar. 31, 2023, for all non domestic energy users, including charities and the public sector, such as schools and schools, will be a non domestic energy user, who can be a charity and the public sector.
As well as businesses, hospitals and businesses are included in the mix.
We're going to review it after six months. Prime Minister Liz Truss told broadcasters that they'll make sure that the most vulnerable businesses, like pubs, like shops, continue to be supported.
The government also announced support for households in Northern Ireland, on the same level as the equivalent scheme in the rest of the United Kingdom, on the same level as the equivalent scheme in the rest of the United Kingdom, taking effect from November, though backdated to the start of October, a scheme that was heavily criticised by most political parties in the region.