A record number of UK households are already behind on their bills, according to Ofgem.
British households are facing high energy costs this winter despite the energy price cap falling below £2,000 ($2,512) a year for the first time in 18 months, the national regulator, Ofgem, has warned.
A typical family can now expect to pay an average of £1,923 from October to December, a drop of about £150. However, millions of households could end up paying more because the £400 government support given to all homes last winter has been withdrawn.
The average household will still pay almost double the rate for their gas and electricity than before the start of the energy crisis last year.
“It is welcome news that the price cap continues to fall; however, we know people are struggling with the wider cost of living challenges and I can’t offer any certainty that things will ease this winter,” Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brearley said this week.
In an interview with Sky News, he warned that families are “absolutely going to struggle” with their bills this winter, stressing that the government should work together with the regulator and suppliers to give vulnerable customers the support they need. According to Brearley, it would be “helpful” if the subsidies were reintroduced by the government.
The charity Citizens Advice has also warned that this winter could be “as bad, if not worse” than the last, urging the government to step in.
Image credit: Alex Padurariu
There’s only two options really. The energy provider does without or the public does without. Guess who will be asked to put on another layer of clothes. All because of a trace gas (co2) that is less than 1% of the atmosphere.
“Divide and conquer” has a new sibling: impoverish and make them struggle.
More die from cold than heat. I figure midwinter the grid’s going down.
And they will all trot out and vote fore more, of the same…..as they do here in NZ….no helping some people………
…an orchestrated ‘hard winter” no thanks to weather warfare, deliberate price gouging, and unsustainable food, housing and goods hyper-inflation!
600 quid a month on gas and electricity? Or $1272NZD
That is just insane. About 4 times what we pay in winter for our household.