Dire circumstances go from bad to worse
UK regulator Ofgem have announced that energy bills are set to soar even further as the price cap is now said to jump from £1,3971 a year to £3,549 in October.
From October 1, the typical energy bill for a year will rise to £3,549 for the those on standard variable tariffs and as much as £3,608 for those on prepayment meters.
The price hike will see the regular everyday cost of energy shoot up by a whopping 80 per cent, around £300 a month per home, in an update that even Ofgem boss Jonathan Brearley has admitted will be “devastating for many families”.
Often raises price cap from £1,971 to £3,549.
That’s around £300 per month.
The only offer of help on the table from government so far is a one off £400 payment.
Where are they?
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) August 26, 2022
Brearley told the BBC that “All of us, with the government, need to get ahead of this problem and manage it on behalf of customers because the outlook for winter without any action looks very difficult indeed”.
Delivering the damning news that will effect more than 24 million homes across the country, he added that whoever the next Prime Minister chosen on September 5 is, they “need to act urgently and decisively to address this”.
Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis issued a similar message to the incoming PM too; breaking down the latest figures this morning, he also noted that the latest price cap is a full £750 more than the previous estimates which the UK government based their one-off £400 energy relief discount on.
I've been accused of catastrophising about the energy hikes that have now come true.
Yet let me be plain, 'doom-mongering' or not.
More help is desperately needed for poorest or people will die this winter due to unaffordability of an 80% SO FAR energy price cap hike.
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) August 26, 2022
Worse still, the price cap is likely to be reviewed again later this year and recent estimates suggest that annual figures could reach above £5,000 by April 2023, meaning Brits will be paying more than triple that what they have been for the majority of 2022.
As the the colder temperatures approach, another serious concern is that UK households are already in £1.3 billion of energy debt before autumn and winter have even arrived.
It is usually during the summer months that people save money and often sit in a surplus of energy credit, making it easier as the year goes on, but it would seem people are already having to pay more for their usage even during a hot summer.
Lewis went on to appear on BBC Breakfast to urge the government for immediate action.
'I am begging and praying and pleading that there is more help' The energy price cap will increase to £3,549 from October for the average electricity and gas bill.
Money saving expert Martin Lewis gave his reaction on #BBCBreakfasthttps://t.co/IBYslA1b9q pic.twitter.com/5WE1nFo8R6— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) August 26, 2022
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