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An emergency plan to shield UK households from soaring energy bills will cost more than £100bn over two years.

That’s according to Keith Anderson, chief executive of energy giant Scottish Power, who has proposed capping household energy bills at around £2,000 a year.

Under his plans, bills would be frozen for two years at the current price cap of £1,971. Suppliers would cover the gap between the cap and wholesale prices by borrowing from a so-called deficit fund arranged by the Government.

This would be paid off by the public either through taxation, spread over bills for the next 10 to 15 years or a combination of the two, the Financial Times reports.

Mr Anderson raised the plans in a meeting with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng last week.

Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss has acknowledged that more support with energy bills could be needed, but has railed against “handouts”.