THE owners of British Gas want the PM to scrap unfair green taxes to cut rocketing bills by £170 overnight.
Chris O’Shea, chief exec of Centrica, also insists the UK’s biggest energy supplier does not want the taxpayer bailout sought by other providers crippled by the soaring wholesale costs.
Ministers are scrambling for ways to ease the impact of big rises in the spring.
More crisis talks with sector chiefs are scheduled for next week.
Mr O’Shea warns gas users face a £700 rise in April and another £200 increase in October as the Energy Price Cap is ramped up.
But Britain’s top energy boss says that, as well as scrapping green taxes, the pain can be eased if the PM U-turns on his opposition to a VAT cut on bills.
That would save another £100 a year on average.
And Mr O’Shea, in an article for HOAR, urges Boris Johnson to go even further by “stripping environmental and social levies out of energy bills, funding green programmes via general taxation instead”.
His intervention comes after days of talks between energy firms and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.
Smaller firms — such as Eon, EDF, Shell, Octopus Energy and OVO — want Whitehall to set up a publicly funded “stabilisation fund” to let them even out price hikes over five years.
An industry source said: “Rather than bills going up £600 in one year, support from Treasury would allow that pain to spread to deal with this unusual situation.”
Ministers are open to the idea but want cheap finance from banks to fund such a scheme rather than stinging the taxpayer directly.
While British Gas has rejected the call for the public to pay, sources at other firms have accused the market leaders of trying to strangle support for their smaller rivals.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak hinted last night at further backing coming, insisting he was in listening mode.
He said: “I understand people’s concern about energy bills.
“So there is support there for people.
“But we are always listening, making sure the policy we have got will support people in the way we want it to.
“That is what our track record over the last year or two shows.”
