£220 A MONTH BILL WARNING
Energy price cap ‘to go up by 5%’
MILLIONS of households have been warned that they face punishing average winter fuel bills of £220 a month, as the watchdog prepares to sanction a price hike.
Experts yesterday predicted regulator Ofgem will increase its energy price cap by around 5% from January.
With the Tories scrapping last year’s £67 a month help for all households, some already battling to make ends meet are likely to face more misery during the coldest months of the year.
The price cap – on the unit rate most customers pay rather than the overall bill – has been falling on the back of lower wholesale energy costs. But experts forecast it will go back up in January to allow suppliers to recover the cost of energy instability.
The globally traded price of gas has been affected by damage to a pipeline in Finland, the Israel-Hamas conflict and strikes at gas production facilities in Australia.
Ofgem is due to announce the price cap level on Thursday. It affects those on default or standard variable tariffs.
Investment bank Investec forecast that in a typical dual-fuel household it would rise from an average £1,834 a year to £1,928, while consultants Cornwall Insight predicted £1,931 a year.
Investec analyst Martin Young estimated average monthly bills will be £220 between January and March, the coldest months. He said: “The cost of energy/ living crisis is not dissipating.”
And Dr Craig Lowrey, of Cornwall Insight, said: “An unstable wholesale market, coupled with the UK’s reliance on imports, makes it inevitable energy bills will rise.” Simon Francis, of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, called on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to provide more help for the vulnerable.
He said: “If the Government thinks that people will be able to get through this winter without more support, then they are living in cloud cuckoo land.”
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: “We continue to keep all options under review for those most in need.”
■ HOUSEHOLDS were paid to use less electricity between 5pm and 6.30pm yesterday in a National Grid test event aimed at avoiding winter blackouts.
LAST winter more than 4,000 people died because of the cold and millions more struggled to pay for their heating.
This year could be even worse. Experts warn the average monthly household energy bill could rise to £220 if Ofgem raises the price cap.
Unlike last year there will be no additional support from the Government.
This will mean more people having to choose between heating and eating and more elderly people at risk of fatal hypothermia.
At present, one in four UK households cannot afford to heat their homes.
Many, still paying off debts they ran up last winter, now face going further into arrears.
If the Government had implemented a proper windfall tax on the oil and gas giants, it could have funded the support people so clearly require. And it is not too late to act.
The Chancellor has a choice in next week’s Autumn Statement: He can cut taxes for the richest or stand by those in genuine need.