Ministers meet energy company executives amid cost-of-living squeeze

According to Sky News, chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will ask the executives to submit a breakdown of expected profits and payouts, as well as their investment plans for the next three years. 

However, the government has admitted it was only part of a “short-term response”, while any policy decisions were unlikely to be made before a new prime minister is announced. 

Education secretary James Cleverly said the meeting would involve the chancellor and business secretary “calling in” the leaders of the big energy companies to “knock some heads together” and “hold them to account about what they’re going to do with those profits”.

It comes as leaked documents under the government’s latest “reasonable worst case scenario” show officials believe the UK could experience blackouts for several days in January if cold weather combines with gas shortages to leave the country short of power.

Alongside this, former prime minister Gordon Brown has once again weighed into the debate calling for the energy price cap to be cancelled and for the government to negotiate new lower prices with companies. 

Writing for the Guardian, he warned the time for action was slipping away and major decisions had to be made within days. He added: Time and tide wait for no one. 

“Neither do crises. They don’t take holidays, and don’t politely hang fire – certainly not to suit the convenience of a departing PM and the whims of two potential successors.”

Prime ministerial hopeful Liz Truss, meanwhile, has denied she is ruling out providing extra help with energy bills beyond tax cuts, after appearing to double down on her insistence that she could only offer help through reversing the recent rise in national insurance and temporarily suspending green levies. 

As for Rishi Sunak, he has promised to give “hundreds of pounds” more to people for energy bills, telling ITV News he’s “confident” he could find the money needed to support people with the rising cost of living from government efficiency savings. He did, however, say it “would be wrong” to put a precise figure on how much money he would give people.

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