Lord Lamont told The Telegraph: “The alternative, which I would prefer, would be to lessen the social and environmental levy, which accounts for 12 per cent of the bill. When people say energy costs are out of the Government’s control, that is true broadly – but the 12 per cent is within the Government’s control.”

Lord Lilley said: “In the short term, I think they should suspend the levies. Even once we’ve removed this, there will still be a greater incentive to economise on gas and shift to other things than there was last year with the levies on, so they cannot say that the levy is necessary.

“If they argue that the levy is a token, if tokenism is so important that we drive people into poverty, then they are not pursuing a viable policy.”

Lord Howard of Lympne, a former Tory leader, backed an expansion of the warm homes grant, saying: “I feel any help really ought to be targeted at people who suffered worst during the pandemic.”

Tory areas ‘hardest hit’ by price increases

Analysis of Office for National Statistics figures and the estimated impact of rising energy bills conducted by the Liberal Democrats shows the 20 areas hardest hit by forthcoming price increases are represented by Conservative MPs.

While households in the average local authority will see energy bills rise by £598 a year this April, households in the 20 areas will see them rise by £753, according to the Lib Dems.

Ed Davey, the party’s leader, said: “It is hardly surprising that it is people in rural areas who are facing the biggest rises in bills this year. This is yet more evidence that the Conservatives are taking our rural communities for granted.”

The green levies on energy bills are opposed by a swathe of Tory backbenchers, who believe that the Government’s focus on net zero is hitting the worst off and damaging the party’s chances of retaining many of its 2019 gains at the next election.

Ministers argue that, without transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy, the UK will remain in hoc to Russia and other foreign states for its gas supplies. 

The Conservative Environment Network, which numbers 116 MPs, has suggested that the levies are temporarily funded by the Treasury while energy prices remain high.