LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s incoming prime minister Liz Truss is planning to freeze household energy bills at the current level for this winter and next, paid for by government-backed loans to energy suppliers, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
“Energy companies would take out government guaranteed loans to bridge the gap between the wholesale price in the market and the fixed price they are charging customers,” the BBC said during a news bulletin citing its business editor.
“Those loans would be repaid over the next 10 to 20 years through supplements to customer bills.”
The scheme could cost between 100 billion and 130 billion pounds ($116-151 billion), it said.
($1 = 0.8622 pounds)
(Reporting by William James and Paul Sandle)
