Companies are instructed to prepare two sets of unit rates for gas and electricity in March for April bills.

Officials have instructed Britain’s energy suppliers to prepare two bills for next month in anticipation of a U-turn by the government on a planned cut to household energy subsidies.

The pressure is on the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to extend the energy price guarantee, which aims to cap annual household bills at £2,500, until the end of March.

Hunt, who is scheduled to release the budget on 15 March, intends to make the guarantee less generous beginning in April by increasing it to £3,000. The £400 one-time grant available last year will also expire in April.

Government officials have contacted energy suppliers with two sets of rates for gas and electricity units, depending on if Hunt decides to extend the support.

An energy company chief executive stated, “We have set up two sets of rates in our systems to test billing and ensure that the direct debits are calculated correctly.” We’ve been informed that everything points towards the price remaining at £2,500.” Treasury sources confirmed that suppliers were instructed to prepare for either option.

Before changing their tariff, suppliers must give customers one month’s notice, so if Hunt had waited until the budget to decide, it could have caused problems.

However, industry sources reported that the British regulator, Ofgem, has “given us flexibility on dates. If mid-March does not decide, there will be a challenge; however, the dates are not rigid, and we believe the regulator would permit that.”

Since wholesale gas prices began falling sharply this year, pressure has been mounting on Hunt to reverse the planned reduction in support. An increase in gas prices caused by the conflict in Ukraine pushed up bills last year, requiring the government of the UK to intervene and subsidise them.

Grant Shapps, secretary of energy, said he was “very sympathetic” to calls to the government to cancel a cut in support.

Martin Lewis, a consumer advocate who has advocated for Hunt to reverse his decision, stated on Friday that there was an 85% chance that the government would yield to pressure. He added, “I wouldn’t say it’s a done deal.”

More than 2 million households in England were in fuel poverty last year, according to government data released this week.

The number of English households that spend more than 10% of their income on energy has increased from 4.93 million in 2021 to 7.39 million in 2022.