- Title: Britain's energy price cap a 'disaster' says fuel poverty charity
- Date: 26th August 2022
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - SEPTEMBER 20, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GAS METER VARIOUS OF ELECTRICITY METER BOILER
- Embargoed: 9th September 2022 08:39
- Keywords: Adam Scorer Energy prices National Energy Action October price cap Ofgem electricity energy price cap fuel poverty gas meter power bills
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: UK
- Topics: Europe,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001064525082022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: British energy bills will rise 80% to an average of 3,549 pounds ($4,188) a year from October, regulator Ofgem said on Friday (August 26), putting millions at risk of fuel poverty, charity National Energy Action said.
The new average bill for electricity and gas for 24 million households means energy bills will have almost trebled from October last year when they were an average of 1,277 pounds, a major factor in inflation rising to a 40-year high.
Chief executive of National Energy Action, Adam Scorer, told Reuters the new price rise was "a disaster" that will send nine million households into fuel poverty, up from four million households in September 2021.
Fuel poverty is determined if a household has to spend more than 10% of its income on power bills, Scorer explained.
Ofgem said it was not giving projections for January when a new cap will take effect because the market remained too volatile, but it said the market for gas in winter means that prices could get "significantly worse" through 2023.
Energy bills have soared this year after wholesale gas and power prices, already rising after the pandemic, surged following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Moscow's move to curtail gas exports to Europe.
The two candidates vying to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister have clashed over how to respond.
Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak's proposals, which include suspending environmental levies or cutting a sales tax, have been dismissed by analysts as too little to avert the unprecedented hit to household budgets.
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