UK meets energy firms but no help yet for hard-hit consumers

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior ministers held inconclusive talks Thursday with energy companies amid mounting pressure to help residents cope with soaring gas and electricity prices.

Johnson, who is in his final weeks as prime minister, joined Treasury chief Nadhim Zahawi and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng at the meeting with firms including Scottish Power, EDF and Centrica. But with Johnson insisting that “significant fiscal decisions” must be left to his successor, the talks produced no relief for Britons struggling with a cost-of-living crisis.

Johnson said the government would “keep urging the electricity sector to continue working on ways we can ease the cost of living pressures and to invest further and faster in British energy security.”

There was a hint that the Conservative government could take action at some point. It said it “continues to evaluate the extraordinary profits seen in certain parts of the electricity generation sector and the appropriate and proportionate steps to take.”

Energy bills around the world have soared this year as the war in Ukraine squeezes global oil and gas supplies. The problem is especially acute in Britain, where the bills that people pay are governed by a regulator-set price cap linked to wholesale prices.

The average U.K. household fuel bill has risen more than 50% this year, and another increase is due in October. Consulting firm Cornwall Insight forecast this week that the average bill will top 3,500 pounds ($4,300) a year in the fall, and rise above 4,000 pounds ($4,900) in the new year.

Energy suppliers say the price increases are not their fault.

“This is not in the hands of energy retailers,” Dale Vince, founder of the energy firm Ecotricity, told Sky News. “The problem is the crazy...