Household bills should not rise by an average of £500 a year from April, as expected, as Jeremy Hunt is poised to extend the energy price guarantee at its current level for another three months.
The Government's energy price guarantee is due raise its threshold from £2,500 to £3,000 from April 1, leaving households facing extra payments on their bills despite wholesale gas prices having fallen 40pc since the start of this year.
However, the Chancellor plans to retain the guarantee for another three months until wholesale prices have fallen so far that it becomes unnecessary, according to the Times.
It comes as energy companies are reportedly already preparing to amend bills as they expect Mr Hunt to keep the Government's support package at £2,500 a year, according to the BBC.
Consumer champion Martin Lewis has said there is a "better than 50pc chance" that annual energy bills will stay at £2,500 instead of rising to £3,000 a year from April.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I was saying earlier in the week, reading the runes, it was a better than 50pc chance that the price wouldn't go up."
The Government has previously said the energy price guarantee is under review while a Treasury source declined to "comment on speculation".
Mr Hunt will deliver his next Budget on March 15.
City economists have also started to factor an unchanged energy price guarantee into their forecasts.
It is one of the reasons JP Morgan no longer predicts a recession, while Deutsche Bank has a shallower contraction in the second quarter and Citi thinks inflation could fall below 3pc by the end of 2023.
Read the latest updates below.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiZGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDIzLzAzLzAzL2Z0c2UtMTAwLW1hcmtldHMtbGl2ZS1uZXdzLWplcmVteS1odW50LWJpbGwtc3VwcG9ydC_SAQA?oc=5
2023-03-03 10:04:23Z
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