LONDON (AFP) – British energy bills are set to start rising again this autumn, the sector regulator announced yesterday, sparking fears that fuel poverty will worsen amid an ongoing cost of living crisis.
The cost of household electricity and gas had already been falling.
But energy market regulator Ofgem said the price cap that suppliers can charge customers will increase by 10 per cent from October, adding around GBP12 (USD15) a month to the average bill.
A typical household bill will rise to about GBP1,717 per year, Ofgem, which sets the cap every quarter, detailed in a press release. It had issued reductions in April and July.
The regulator cited “rising prices” on international energy markets due to “increasing geopolitical tensions and extreme weather events driving competition for gas”.
It said that despite the rise for the October to December quarter, the cap will still be six per cent lower than for the same period last year.
It will be almost half as low as at the height of the energy crisis in February that year, Ofgem added.
But National Energy Action, a United Kingdom (UK) fuel poverty charity, warned that the increase would “plunge 400,000 more UK households into fuel poverty this winter”, taking the number to six million.
The charity said the problem would be compounded by UK Finance Minister Rachel Reeves’s recent decision to scrap winter fuel subsidies for 10 million older citizens.
