(Bloomberg) -- The £15 billion ($19 billion) spending package announced this week should be enough to get struggling families through the worst of the energy crisis, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a Bloomberg Television interview. 

The government this week announced a windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies to help finance one-off payments of £400 ($500) for every household in the UK with extra support for the most vulnerable -- a package worth £15 billion. 

“It’s a very considerable commitment to help the British people to do what we did in the pandemic -- put our arms around people, get them through the surge in energy prices,” Johnson said. “We think it will last until prices start to abate.”

The premier said he was “confident” prices would start coming down. “I think that supply will start to improve and humanity is always fertile in expedience, and immensely resourceful in coming up with solutions,” he said. “And we will find new ways of getting energy onstream, not least in this country.”

While gas prices have fallen back from record highs, they remain volatile amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and futures are still double where they usually are at this time of year. Prices for this winter are 73% higher than now and for the following winter are about triple the average, according to ICE Endex data.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak hinted on Friday there could be more handouts next year, if there was no drop in energy and food prices. “People can judge me by my actions over the last couple of years, I’ve always tried to be responsive to the situation the country and economy is experiencing,” he told BBC News. 

The UK is on track to be the advanced nation worst hit by a combination of soaring inflation and weak growth, with prices expected to rise 13% over this year and next, the most among the Group of Seven countries.

“We’re going to have a difficult period,” Johnson warned. “We’ve got to be absolutely clear with people it is going to be difficult, and the government cannot solve every problem.”

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