Rishi Sunak Says People Should Look At "All Options" To Reduce Their Energy Use
Leadership Candidate Rishi Sunak at a Hustings in Birmingham on Tuesday Evening
2 min read
Conservative leadership contender Rishi Sunak has said that people should look at “all options” to reduce energy use this winter, as the latest price cap of over £3,500 is set to be confirmed this week, before further rises will come in January and April.
Senior Conservative MPs are facing urgent calls to address the spike in energy prices and rises in the cost of living, with a significant number of households expected to plunge into fuel poverty this winter.
Former chancellor Sunak, who is trailing behind Liz Truss in the race to become the next prime minister has said he would provide more direct help to vulnerable people if he enters Number 10 and has also advocated for a “programme of massive energy efficiency upgrades”.
There have been a number of suggestions from MPs and the energy industry that people should consider reducing their energy usage – by cooking using an air fryer rather than the oven, for example – in order to bring costs down, a proposition Sunak did not rule out this morning.
“We have to look at all options available for us," he told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
He suggested changes such as changing flow rates on domestic boilers, "which can help actually reduce energy usage without people seeing any real impact on how they consume energy".
Sunak said his government would also look at energy efficiency programmes for homes in order to help people reduce consumption.
"Because they're a relatively low cost, light touch quick intervention, things like loft insulation and cavity wall insulation, which the government actually already has money set aside for, but I think we can turbocharge the delivery of.”
Leadership frontrunner Truss has already suggested she would consider announcing some additional support packages to provide immediate relief, but has said she is more in favour of offering tax cuts to help households keep more of their own cash rather than offering "handouts".
She told a leadership hustings in Birmingham on Tuesday evening that there would need to be a “fiscal event” to deal with the cost-of-living crisis and said that her first priority is “reducing taxes”.
This weekend business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, who is widely tipped to be appointed as chancellor, if Truss goes into Number 10, insisted that "help is coming".
Downing Street has said no new relief measures will be devised while the Conservative leadership contest to elect outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson's successor is ongoing.
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