the government are offering some help — by knocking £150 off most council tax bills in england, and then lending an extra £200 in october, which will be paid back through your energy bills over the next five years. but that still only covers half of the increase in a typical household's energy bill. energy prices are going to affect everybody, but the people for whom its worst are the people on low incomes, on fixed incomes. academics crunching the numbers are worried about the long—term impact. so, the government say they have offered some help to people and they have done what they can. i think it's fair to say that the council tax rebate will help people. these energy price rises come in a context. they come in a context where it's going to mean less money available for other goods, but the prices of those are going up too. so people on the lowest incomes definitely needed some support and it's regrettable that the chancellor chose not to do so in his spring statement. the government say they'll monitor