Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his definition is of the word discount in the context of his announcement on 4 February 2022 of a £200 repayable sum to be deducted from domestic energy bills.

This year, all domestic electricity customers will receive a discount on their bills worth £200. This is a reduction on the higher costs that many energy customers would otherwise face this year, with an unprecedented spike in international gas wholesale prices forcing an increase in the April 2022 price cap. This reduction will mean the effective average annual energy bill households face will fall from £1,971 to £1,771.

The aim of the policy is to effectively spread the worst of the extra costs of this year’s energy price shock over time. Therefore, the cost of the discount will be automatically recouped from people’s bills interest-free over the next five years, to minimise the financial pressure on consumers.

This reduction is also only one part of a wider package of measures to support households in 2022/23 – including the £150 non-repayable reduction in Council Tax bills for (English) households in Bands A-D, which will apply from April.