Families face paying £1,000 MORE for energy bills as price cap ‘nearly doubles’

CASH-strapped families face paying £1,000 a year MORE for their energy bills by next October according to experts.

The dire prediction comes because the energy price cap - which currently stands at £1,277 per year per household - will likely be raised twice next year to keep up with record market prices and the cost of supplier failures. 

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By next April, the  default tariff price cap could be hiked to £1,865 according to consultancy Cornwall Insight - nearly 50 per cent more and higher than its previous estimates.

Next October, households could be paying a whopping £2,240 per annum for their electricity and gas, the consultancy calculates.

That is nearly £1,000 more than at present, adding to the growing cost of living crisis afflicting British families.

Around four million UK households are already in the grip of fuel poverty according to charity National Energy Action, unable to afford to heat their homes to the temperature needed to keep warm and healthy.

Citizens Advice says many struggling families are facing a choice between “heating or eating”.

The cost of living is climbing, with inflation running at more than five per cent as prices rise on a range of goods from used cars to footwear.

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And energy bills could add to that by soaring even higher than the gloomy forecasts, Cornwall Insight warned yesterday.

It explained: “With wholesale prices having surged beyond the records seen at the start of October due to ongoing supply concerns for electricity and gas, geopolitical pressures affecting the European gas market and colder weather associated with the winter season, our forecasts reflect these prevailing conditions.

“Furthermore, our current forecast for the Winter 2022-23 default tariff price cap stands at approximately £2,240 per annum, although we note that this figure may face considerable change before it is formally announced in August 2022.”

Citizens Advice is among those that has called for reform of the energy market. Regulator Ofgem has said that it is looking at the structure of the energy price cap which was originally brought in to protect consumers.