LONDON (AFP) – The price cap on energy bills for most United Kingdom (UK) households will drop to the lowest level for more than two years, regulator Ofgem said yesterday, easing the nation’s cost-of-living crisis.
Bills will start falling from April on lower wholesale energy prices, which had surged in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, Ofgem said in a statement.
The annual amount suppliers are allowed to charge an average household consuming electricity and gas in England, Scotland and Wales will decline 12.3 per cent to GBP1,690 (USD2,140) from GBP1,928, it added.
“This will see energy prices reach their lowest level since the invasion of the Ukraine in February 2022 caused a further spike in an already turbulent wholesale energy market, driving up costs for suppliers and ultimately customers,” the watchdog said.
“However, despite reaching this welcome milestone, Ofgem recognises that the cost of living remains high and many customers continue to struggle with their bills.”
The Ukraine war and subsequent energy price spike fuelled rocketing UK inflation – which remains elevated – and a cost-of-living crisis for millions of Britons.
Yet energy prices remain stubbornly high while UK state assistance has now been fully withdrawn.
“Households have been battered by surging energy costs over the past couple of years and as government support fully comes to an end, there will be many people still terrified when temperatures outside plummet,” said head of financial analysis at AJ Bell Danni Hewson.
She added: “The price of keeping the lights on and rooms warm is still uncomfortably high.”
UK inflation has tumbled since striking a 41-year peak of 11.1 per cent in October 2022, though it held steady in January 2024 at 4.0 per cent, double the Bank of England’s official target level.
Campaigner Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, argued that energy prices remain 60 per cent higher than before the crisis began – even after the latest Ofgem announcement.
“Three years of staggering energy bills have placed an unbearable strain on household finances up and down the country,” noted Francis.
“Household energy debt is at record levels, millions of people are living in cold damp homes and children are suffering in mouldy conditions.”
