The government is set to announce next week how it will help businesses when the existing package of energy bill support expires.

The announcement in the House of Commons will outline support for businesses when the current scheme ends in March.

Yesterday, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt held talks with business leaders and trade groups to discuss potential measures that could help firms combat rising energy costs.

During this meeting, Mr Hunt explained that the current level of support is “unsustainably expensive”.

The Chancellor added that extending the scheme at current levels could cost tens of billions of pounds, with costs potentially doubling or tripling if international energy prices increase further than expected.

ELN understands that the government energy bill support scheme for firms will halve in the spring to reduce taxpayers’ exposure to volatile energy prices.

Tina McKenzie, Policy Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Small firms are still very much in the dark on whether they will continue to be supported on energy bills when the current Energy Bill Relief Scheme expires in March.

“We made it clear in our meeting with the Chancellor today that we can’t afford a cliff-edge scenario that would see a raft of business failures.”