Susannah Gee

ALT      The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP Chancellor of the Exchequer HM Treasury 1 Horse Guards Road London SW1A 2HQ CC: The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP   Thursday 9 February 2023     Dear Chancellor,   In your November Autumn Statement, you announced a 20% increase of the energy price guarantee (EPG) – the state-subsidised energy rate – from April. This will increase energy bills yet again for almost every home across England, Scotland and Wales. This comes at the same time that the £400 energy bills support scheme comes to an end. Yet things have changed since then, and I would ask you to urgently consider postponing that increase. This cannot wait until the Budget – in practice, energy firms will need to know much sooner if the planned rise isn’t happening on 1 April, or they are bound to have to communicate to customers that it is coming. This decision to increase prices was made at a time when wholesale rates were looking to be far higher than they are now. In fact, on current