The British government plans to scale back energy subsidies for businesses will see the cost of support fall by 85 per cent during the next financial year, limiting the cost to 5 billion pounds ($6 billion).
Britain's finance ministry said on Wednesday that the government would announce to parliament next week how it proposes to cut current support, which government forecasters estimate will cost 18 billion pounds in the six months to March. Finance minister Jeremy Hunt has called the current programme "unsustainably expensive". British natural gas prices began to pick up sharply in the second half of 2021, and soared after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Prices have been very volatile since. Although they are now back around the same level as a year ago - and lower than when the current support package was announced - they are still several times higher than in early 2021.