来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2022年1月4日
Even before global energy prices began to soar last spring, too many people in Britain could not afford to keep their homes warm in a cold winter. This year – amid a wider cost-of-living crisis driven by high inflation, a looming rise in national insurance and stagnating wages – spiralling heating bills threaten to tip the household budgets of millions over the edge. According to calculations by the charity National Energy Action, six million families risk becoming fuel poor by the spring, when the energy price cap is expected to be significantly raised. This would be the highest number since such records began to be kept in 1996.
甚至在去年春天全球能源价格开始飙升之前，英国就有太多的人在寒冷的冬天交不起取暖费。今年，在高通胀、国民保险即将上涨和工资停滞不前所引发的更广泛的生活成本危机中，不断上升的取暖费可能使数以百万计的家庭预算陷入困境。根据慈善机构“国家能源行动”的计算，到春天时，预计能源价格上限将大幅提高，届时将有600万家庭面临燃料贫困的风险。这将是自1996年开始有这种记录以来的最高数字。
To mitigate this, the secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, who meets the UK’s major energy suppliers this week, needs a plan that is morally fit for purpose. As Labour’s leader, Keir Starmer, has pointed out, the government could by now have cut VAT on energy bills, offering some relief to consumers. A suggested £20bn state loan to the major energy companies may help to flatten the curve of rising prices. But given that the rise in the price cap in April could be as much as 50%, the government urgently needs to show some empathy with those who will disproportionately suffer the consequences.
为了缓解这种情况，负责商业、能源和工业战略的国务卿夸西·夸滕本周会见了英国的主要能源供应商，他需要一个在道德上符合目的的计划。正如工党领袖基尔·斯塔默所指出的，政府现在可以削减能源账单上的增值税，为消费者提供一些缓解。建议向主要能源公司提供200亿英镑的国家贷款，可能有助于拉平价格上涨的曲线。但考虑到4月份价格上限的涨幅可能高达50%，政府迫切需要对那些将不成比例地承受后果的人表示同情。
Options are available. As National Energy Action has recommended, eligibility for the winter fuel allowance should no longer be restricted to pensioners but include all on low incomes. The warm home discount scheme could be expanded, and Treasury funds used to alleviate the levels of debt accrued by hard-pressed families through no fault of their own. Some of the money for this could come from a windfall tax on North Sea gas producers, who are making record profits as a result of the crisis; the government’s own VAT and booming carbon tax receipts could also be deployed.
有可用的选项。正如“国家能源行动”所建议的那样，冬季燃料补贴的资格不应再局限于领取养老金的人，而应包括所有低收入者。温暖家园折扣计划可以扩大，财政部的资金可以用来减轻那些并非因自身过错而陷入困境的家庭累积的债务水平。其中一部分资金可能来自对北海天然气生产商征收的暴利税，由于危机，这些生产商正获得创纪录的利润；政府自己的增值税和不断增长的碳税收入也可以使用。
In the longer term, this crisis should be the final wake-up call when it comes to dealing with the chronic levels of energy inefficiency in so many British homes. A joined-up, properly financed plan to insulate and renovate social housing to make it zero-carbon would significantly reduce household bills for the poor, reduce emissions and act as a catalyst for wider transformation. Yet in the autumn budget, Rishi Sunak chose to halve the money available for a home upgrade grant targeted at improving energy efficiency in fuel-poor homes.
从长远来看，这场危机应该是最后一记警钟，提醒我们要解决如此多英国家庭严重的能源效率低下问题。一项综合协调的、资金充足的计划，对社会住房进行隔热和改造，使其成为零碳住房，将大大减少穷人的家庭开支，减少排放，并成为更广泛转型的催化剂。然而，在秋季预算中，苏纳克选择将用于改善燃料匮乏家庭能源效率的房屋升级拨款减半。
Dealing with the coming energy shortage will require imagination, fiscal generosity and a recognition that – in a market that risks becoming unsustainably dysfunctional – state intervention is to be embraced rather than avoided. Sadly, with this government, that may be too much to ask.
应对即将到来的能源短缺，将需要想象力、财政慷慨，并认识到——在一个有可能变得不可持续的功能失调的市场中——应接受而不是避免国家干预。可悲的是，对于本届政府来说，这可能是一个过高的要求。