Labour vows its energy bills plan will save £300 more for poorest Brits this winter

Labour today unveils more details on how its plan would help the poorest Brits get through the winter.

Living costs are set to skyrocket again in October when typical energy bills are set to rise to around £3,500 and more than £4,200 in January.

Inflation, which has skyrocketed to another 40-year-high, has put the party under mounting pressure to show how they are on the side of working people.

Party chief Keir Starmer has already vowed to freeze the energy price cap for six months from October.

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has committed to stop prepayment customers paying more to get gas and electricity than those on direct debits.

Some critics questioned why Labour was giving a discount to both rich and poor homes.

Now Ms Reeves has revealed new party figures showing the £29bn plan will save the poorest households over £300 more than it saves the richest this winter.

According to Labour’s calculations, the freeze will save Britain’s 15million direct debit customers £14.7bn – an average of around £1,000 per household between October and March.

But it will save Britain’s 4million pre-paid meter customers around £5bn – or £1,300 per household.

The difference is down to two factors – firstly, Labour has pledged to scrap the premium energy firms charge on pre-paid customers’ bills, ensuring they’re the same as direct debit.

Around four million households use prepayment meters, and they are often on lower incomes.

Their price cap is at least two per cent higher than for direct debit customers, according to Ofgem figures. Currently the difference is £46 a year.

But secondly, because pre-paid meter customers pay for their energy at the time they use it, they hand over more of their money in winter. That means they would’ve handed over more cash than direct debit customers this winter, and therefore save more under Labour’s plan.

Ms Reeves told the Mirror: “It’s outrageous that people on prepayment meters have to pay more for their energy.

“Why should those with the least have to pay more to heat their homes and put the lights on?

“Labour’s plan won’t just freeze the energy price cap for everyone – it will make sure that no one is paying over the odds for the same gas and electricity that everyone else gets.”

Citizens Advice has warned one in four Brits will be unable to afford their energy bills in October, the majority of whom have a household income of less than £30,000.

The advisory service has urged industry regulator Ofgem to suspend the forced installations of prepayment meters.

The cost of this is included in Labour’s £29bn plan that would prevent the energy price cap rising through the winter, paid for by extra tax from oil and gas giants who are making eye-watering profits.

The emergency package announced on Monday by Keir Starmer would reduce energy demand and lower bills in the longer term by insulating 19 million homes across the country over the next decade through Labour’s Warm Homes Plan.

Mr Starmer told the Mirror the plans had been worked on for “weeks” and insisted “of course I was” having meetings on holiday, adding: “I’ve been talking endlessly to families who are going to be impacted by this.”

Following a roundtable meeting with the energy chiefs in Downing Street last week one boss agreed that Ofgem should look at how prepayment meter customers’ bills could be reduced.

Philippe Commaret, managing director of customers at EDF, said: “There is some correlation between customers who are financially vulnerable and those who prepay for their energy, so the fact these customers pay more is unfair.

“It is also outdated thanks to smart pay as you go meters. We would like Ofgem to look at how the price cap for smart prepayment meter customers could be reduced.”

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