Gas bills could rise to an eye-watering £4,000 next year, according to the latest analysis from energy consultants. This could push half of all Brits into fuel poverty, which is when a household spends more than 10% of its income on energy.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the energy price cap rose in October 2021 caused consumer prices for gas and electricity to rise by 17.1% and 8.7% respectively. Currently, 12-month inflation rates for gas and electricity are at their highest since the beginning of 2009, with gas at 28.1% and electricity at 18.8%.
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"The winter 2022 gas price has risen nearly 10-fold since this time last year, and more than double the price of last winter’s gas," Adam Jones, senior manager at BFY Group, told Birmingham Live. “Official figures have an average income of £31,000, this means more than half the country could be pushed into fuel poverty.”
Utilities consultancy BFY Group said it expects the cap on bills to hit £3,850 between January and April next year.
"Following further rises in wholesale prices as flows of gas from Russia to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline drop to 20% of capacity, we now forecast the Ofgem price cap to rise to £3,420 in the fourth quarter of 2022 and £3,850 in the first quarter of 2023," Dr Gemma Berwick, a senior consultant at BFY Group said. "This will make the average household bill over £500 for January alone."
MPs on the Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy committee have called for a massive insulation drive to be launched "urgently" to permanently reduce energy bills, stating that the Government needs to act now to change its out-of-date energy bill support for households. The committee also accused energy regulator Ofgem of being "negligent".
"Once again, the energy crisis is racing ahead of the Government," said committee chair Darren Jones, the chair of the . "To prevent millions from dropping into unmanageable debt, it's imperative that the support package is updated and implemented before October when the squeeze will become a full-on throttling of household finances and further tip the economy towards recession."
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