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What will the energy cap changes mean for my bills?
Developing
Liberal Democrat spokesperson for energy and net zero Pippa Heylings said Burnham needed to "wake up to the scale of the challenge" and make bold changes to lower bills. Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said the government must "put cheap energy first", saying while it had promised to cut bills by £300 they had "gone up by nearly £400 instead".
It said that it was firmly opposed to what it called "illegal unilateral sanctions", that economic pressure tactics would not help resolve problems and that Beijing would safeguard its own interests. The government said its cut to VAT on electricity bills will save households £45 and it was doing more to address cost of living pressures, but opposition parties said Labour was not doing enough.
Vanessa Northam, director at debt charity StepChange, said the increasing number of people seeking help often had high energy debt, averaging at £2,600 on top of other financial commitments. Prime Minister Andy Burnham acknowledged people would find the increase "difficult" but highlighted his move to cut VAT from electricity bills, which he said would help from October.
Neil Kenward, Ofgem's director general for markets, said while gas bills were rising by 8%, electricity bills were actually falling slightly due to the government's VAT cut. In response, Ofgem said it wants all energy firms to offer at least one tariff that has a low standing charge but higher cost per unit of energy.
Campaigners have long argued that standing charges are unfair because they make up a bigger proportion of the bill for low energy households. As well as the VAT cut, the government said the warm homes discount would take £150 off bills for six million households this winter.
He said the gap between gas and electricity bills meant it would be cheaper for households to transition to heat pumps. He said the government would "continue to look... at how we get energy prices down in the long term".
Longer term, he said Burnham should look at a social tariff for energy. While Ofgem's director general for markets Neil Kenward said the price rise for October to December was technically 3.6%, Ofgem always rounds the number which is why it publicised the 4% figure.
Ofgem said the price cap will rise by £60 per year – or £5 per month – to £1,723 for the average household using both electricity and gas if this level was sustained for a year. Second, the ITC tallies Iran's exports using mostly the import numbers reported by its trading partners - owing to the difficulty in getting up to date export data from Iran.
What's confirmed
- Liberal Democrat spokesperson for energy and net zero Pippa Heylings said Burnham needed to "wake up to the scale of the challenge" and make bold changes to lower bills.
- It said that it was firmly opposed to what it called "illegal unilateral sanctions", that economic pressure tactics would not help resolve problems and that Beijing would safeguard its own interests.
- Vanessa Northam, director at debt charity StepChange, said the increasing number of people seeking help often had high energy debt, averaging at £2,600 on top of other financial commitments.
- Neil Kenward, Ofgem's director general for markets, said while gas bills were rising by 8%, electricity bills were actually falling slightly due to the government's VAT cut.
- Campaigners have long argued that standing charges are unfair because they make up a bigger proportion of the bill for low energy households.
- He said the gap between gas and electricity bills meant it would be cheaper for households to transition to heat pumps.
What's still developing
- While Ofgem's director general for markets Neil Kenward said the price rise for October to December was technically 3.6%, Ofgem always rounds the number which is why it publicised the 4% figure.
- The vast majority of people pay their bill this way to help spread payments across the year.
- Campaigners have long argued that standing charges are unfair because they make up a bigger proportion of the bill for low energy households.
- In response, Ofgem said it wants all energy firms to offer at least one tariff that has a low standing charge but higher cost per unit of energy.
- The regulator said this would give some customers more choice and control but acknowledged it would not be suitable for everyone.
- Ofgem said the price cap will increase by 4% on 1 October, driven by higher wholesale gas prices due to the Iran war.
- The government said its cut to VAT on electricity bills will save households £45 and it was doing more to address cost of living pressures, but opposition parties said Labour was not doing enough.
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham acknowledged people would find the increase "difficult" but highlighted his move to cut VAT from electricity bills, which he said would help from October.