Britons’ Gas And Electricity Bills ‘To Hit $6,230 By April’
Gas and electricity bills are expected to hit £5,300 when next April’s price cap is announced, piling further misery onto Britons as inflation keeps climbing.
A forecast by energy consultancy firm Cornwall Insight has said bills could be capped at £5,341.08 four months into next year, while the figure for January’s cap is expected to be £4,649.72.
However, the price cap forecast for October this year is £3,583 for the average household, an 80 percent rise on the current cap of £1,971.
The firm has said it is ‘difficult to see how many will cope’ this winter, with the final figure for the October price cap to be announced by energy regulator Ofgem on Friday.
It comes as the boss of Octopus Energy has called for the price cap to be frozen at its current level and asked for government intervention as there are ‘systematic issues’ in the energy network.
Greg Jackson, who founded the firm which supplies energy to 3.2 million customers in the UK, said if the price of beer had risen at the same rate as energy, a pint would cost £25.
This is the price of what everyday goods would be if they had increased by the same rate as gas prices over the last year.
He made the statement the same day that one forecast predicted inflation will breach 18 percent in the new year – the highest level in nearly half a century – caused by skyrocketing energy bills.
Experts at financial firm Citi have said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation – which indicates the increase in the amount people pay for goods and services – will hit 18.6 percent in January.
Meanwhile, it emerged that homeowners could get paid to turn off power-hungry appliances such as washing machines, tumble dryers, and games consoles during peak times under a new scheme.
The National Grid is reportedly considering giving money to people who cut back on their energy between 5 pm and 8 pm in the form of rebates.
There are concerns about how millions of households in the UK will be able to afford their energy bills this winter – between October and April, the average household will pay the equivalent of £4,102 per year for their gas and electricity.
The price cap, which is now being raised quarterly instead of every six months previously, would see a massive jump from today’s £1,971, which is already a record, and much higher than the £1,138 seen last winter.
Read rest at Daily Mail
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