Household energy bills are set to rise again in April, according to a forecast from energy consultancy Cornwall Insight. The group said it expects regulator Ofgem to reveal that the typical household energy bill will rise by 5%, or £85, to £1,823. Dr Craig Lowrey, principal consultant at Cornwall Insight, said: “Households have been hit hard over the past few months, and with bills set to rise for a third consecutive time the pressure is not letting up.”.
Mr Lowrey said the rise was because of an increase in wholesale gas prices across Europe. He said this underscored the need for Labour’s push towards building more UK-based renewable energy, such as wind and solar farms. Ofgem changes the price cap for households every three months, largely based on the cost of energy on wholesale markets, with the regulator due to confirm the level for April to June on February 25.
The energy price cap was introduced by the Government in January 2019 and sets a maximum price that energy suppliers can charge consumers in England, Scotland and Wales for each kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy they use. It does not limit total bills, because householders still pay for the amount of energy they consume. The cap is significantly lower than at the peak of the energy crisis, which was fuelled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
But prices are still “more volatile than it has been in quite some time, and households are bearing the brunt of cold weather and low gas storage levels across Europe,” Mr Lowrey said. It comes as the Government pushes ahead with its policy of building out renewable energy, with a goal of reaching 95% clean power across the electricity grid by 2030. Mr Lowrey said: “It might be tempting to look at rising bills and conclude that the push towards renewables is not working, and we should scale back on the transition.
