Families in Bristol facing spiking energy bills this winter due to the CO2 shortage will not get help until the end of October, it has been revealed to MPs.
Bristol North West MP, Darren Jones, chaired the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee (BEIS) on Wednesday morning (September 22) where Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng suggested any help for families with rising energy costs won't arrive until the end of October.
The business secretary said he wanted to help protect the most vulnerable and elderly customers but that any financial help would not arrive until the Budget is announced at the end of October.
Read More: CO2 shortage and gas price rise could bring 'desperate' winter to Bristol
The Labour MP, who serves as the chair on the select committee, said: “On Monday, the Business Secretary told me he’d have to check with the Chancellor before stepping in to help families facing spiking energy bills.
"Today, he says to wait until the end of October for that help to arrive.
"This is unwelcome news to families in Bristol forced to pay more for energy while getting less support from Universal Credit.
"The Chancellor must come forward with support measures now to correct this situation”
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told the committee: “It’s a fiscal issue but I, and department officials, are very keen to sustain the warm homes grant.
“We have to protect customers and the warm health scheme is clearly a very good measure to protect the most vulnerable and elderly customers.
“We have the budget coming at the end of October and a spending review and all will be revealed then.”
Yesterday, the Labour MP for Bristol West, Thangam Debbonaire, warned the CO2 shortage could result in food prices rising in supermarkets, at a time when energy bills are already increasing.
In addition to the £20 cut to Universal Credit, the Bristol West MP is concerned about how people living on low incomes in Bristol will cope.
She said: “We are now being told that the CO2 shortage will make food shortages worse. Shortages often mean rising prices.
“For people in Bristol already struggling to make ends meet, this will be particularly desperate.
“This is just the latest crisis to hit people on low incomes in Bristol, who are already writing to me about rising food prices in the shops and rocketing energy bills."
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