Gas prices skyrocket: What it means and how bills could be affected

Thank goodness for the Ofgem cap

While, of course, it's not quite as bad as being involved in a war which has led to the deaths of around 1000-2000 people since its outbreak, such wars can have global affects, and often those who pay the cost are those who can't afford to pay it at all.

Certainly in the UK, this is the case with already some of the highest energy bills in Europe, the costs of petrol, diesel and heating oil have already gone through the roof thanks to the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on oil refineries.

While this was far from ideal, we hadn't quite hit Defcon 1 on the energy front, with only 1.5 million (5%) of households in the UK using heating oil, with the Ofgem energy cap taking most of the brunt for the meantime.

Now, however, natural gas has gotten involved, with Israel launching an attack on Iran's South Pars gas field which even Trump described as 'a bit far that mate'.

However, this led to Iran launching strikes back at gas fields in Qatar, ally of the West, leading to general chaos and uncertainty on the price of gas.

And, just this morning, it was reported that the price of gas in the UK had shot up by 23% to 171p per therm, as per the BBC.

Gas is a super important resource in the UK for three main reasons; heating homes, cooking and hot water production, and electricity generation.

Around 85% of houses use gas boilers, half the UK use gas cookers and around 30% of the UK's total electricity production.

Fortunately, in the UK we have the Ofgem energy cap, meaning which means prices cannot be increased in an immediate response to rising costs.

Furthermore, the government has already decided that the cap will be lowered in April.

However, what this does mean is that when the cap gets readjusted again in the summer, it could go up significantly to make up for losses due to the increased costs for this current period.

Of course, with Trump quickly throwing cold water on Israel's strike on Iran's South Pars gas field, things could calm soon.

Posting about the attack on Truth Social, he wrote: "Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility.

"NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar."

Hopefully he's right.

How much could bills rise?

With the Ofgem cap in place, bills won't be changing for now, but without it, prices could rise significantly.

It's impossible to know how much the cap could go up later this year after the April reduction, but it could be significant.

The UK is heavily reliant on gas, and once again proves the need for more green energy that can be produced at home.

Fortunately, wind is currently doing plenty of heavy lifting in the UK, making up around a third of all electricity production, however, to be truly self-sufficient, we'll need more going forwards.