Less than a month after Britain’s new Prime Minister took office, and despite a day one decision to cut VAT from electricity bills, yet another escalation in the war in Iran means that energy bills have not left the political agenda. As of early August, wholesale gas prices have surged back to around the highest levels since fighting began. But the past four years have exposed a gap in the state’s toolkit: beyond the benefit system, the Government has no way of targeting support for households struggling with energy bills. When prices spiked in 2022, ministers fell back on universal support, at a cost of £44 billion.