Harlow’s MP has called for the government to take action as he warns around two million more people could be put into fuel poverty.

Downing Street has suggested that there are not any imminent plans to help keep energy prices down for customers, as households face a potentially crippling price rise in less than three months.

But MP Robert Halfon MP said if green levies on energy bills was suspended, it could provide struggling consumers with a saving of almost £200 on their annual bills, as they face rising energy prices due to sky-rocketing wholesale gas costs.

Mr Halfon said energy bills could potentially rise to between £1,800 and £2,000 per year, a hike which “could cause enormous financial distress” and put two million more people into fuel poverty.

“The Government must do what they can to reduce energy bills – of course reducing VAT would help and it is an important gesture,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme.

“But there is an elephant in the room, and that is the so-called energy tax green levies which amount to 25 per cent of the electricity bill that we all pay.”

Epping Forest Guardian: Robert Halfon Credit: PARobert Halfon Credit: PA

The Harlow MP said ministers should “at least suspend green levies” while global gas prices are high, or put in place a “downward escalator” to ensure green taxes on bills decrease when wholesale energy prices increase.

The former education minister said a VAT cut would amount to a saving of about £60 this year on average for bill payers, but that a suspension of the green levies could reduce costs by a quarter, stating that the average consumer spends about £195 annually on “environmental and social costs” of energy.

“It would make a significant difference,” Mr Halfon added.

But his argument was challenged by the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, Torsten Bell, who said targeting green levies was a “slight red herring that’s being pushed by people who don’t want to wrestle with the actual tough decisions we face in the short-term”.

Some experts predict the energy price cap – which is currently protecting consumers from bill rises – could increase by up to 50 per cent in April.