Millions of households are set to struggle to pay their bills after Ofgem raised the energy price cap on Friday. The UK energy regulator has set the new price cap at £3,549 from October 1, marking an 80 per cent jump in energy costs. Families could face poverty over the winter if they have to pay 24.37p per kilowatt hour for the gas they burn to keep their homes at a comfortable temperature. The price is currently 7.37p, already higher than ever. For the average household this means a bill of £5,632 a year from January, a 59 per cent increase compared to the newly set next cap which comes on 1 October. And in the worst warning yet, energy consultancy Auxilione has predicted a £7,700 bill from April 2023 – with gas costing consumers 34.22p per kWh. As a result, the chairman of the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee said the “vast majority of people” could now be in fuel poverty,
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Next prime minister ‘right’ to wait to weigh options to combat cost-of-living crisis, says minister
A cabinet minister has said it is “right” that the next prime minister waits until he takes office to weigh up “all the options” to combat the cost of living hardship. Environment Secretary George Eustice insisted people “don’t have long to wait” for news on what further action Boris Johnson’s successor will take to tackle rising prices, with less than a week to go before Tory MPs vote on new leader. Mr Eustice said both leadership candidates had already set out “some concrete things” they would do to lighten the burden, but added it was right that whoever secured the keys to No 10 would “want to look at all the correctly priced options’ once. they start in the role. It comes after the Chancellor suggested that those earning around £45,000 a year could struggle to cope with rising living costs as households brace for another painful price hike in their fuel bills over the winter. Maryam Zakir-Hussain 27 August 2022 12:50 1661599824
Thousands of NHS staff to leave because they can’t afford to travel to work, chiefs warn
Thousands of NHS community workers who rely on cars for work will be forced to quit their jobs and pursue other careers because they cannot afford rising petrol prices, chiefs have warned. Community services could lose eight per cent of staff next year, with NHS chiefs warning this will affect access to care for the most vulnerable children and adults, according to research shared with The Independent. The lowest paid workers are expected to spend a third of their monthly income on fuel, according to the latest estimates of annual energy prices, while an analysis of NHS data shows record levels of staff have already left their jobs for better paid jobs. in the first quarter of 2022. My colleagues Rebecca Thomas and Samuel Lovett report:
Thousands of NHS staff to quit their jobs because they can’t afford to travel to work
Exclusive: ‘Fuel costs are causing huge stress for community staff,’ chief Siobhan Melia warns Maryam Zakir-Hussain August 27, 2022 12:30 p.m 1661598692
All help with living costs available and how to get paid
As fears of fuel poverty and worries about choosing between heating and food plague households across Britain, here’s a list of all the cost of living payments available and how to access them. My colleague Zoe Tidman reports:
All the help with living costs you may be entitled to and how to get the payments
Former chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a series of new measures after criticism that the government was not doing enough to tackle financial difficulties Maryam Zakir-Hussain 27 August 2022 12:11 1661596926
Price cap could see ‘three quarters of Scots in fuel poverty’
Almost three quarters of households in Scotland could end up suffering fuel poverty as a result of the latest increase in the energy price cap, the boss of a consultancy has warned. The charity Energy Action Scotland works to tackle fuel poverty by providing advice to Scots on what they can do in the face of soaring bills. But with the price cap set to rise to £3,549 from October, the charity’s chief executive Frazer Scott warned the increase was “simply going to damage the health and wellbeing of the population”. In 2019, it was estimated that one in four households (24.6%) suffered from fuel poverty – defined as a household having to spend more than 10% of its income on energy, after housing costs are deducted. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has already insisted this recent rise in energy bills is “simply unaffordable”. Mr Scott said people were becoming “more and more desperate”, adding: “We’re getting to the point where almost 75% of the population could fall under our definition, and that’s just unthinkable.” The pressure of rising bills will have an impact on mental health for many, Mr Scott said. He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland: “For many, many households this is so severe that mental health is suffering, people are doing increasingly desperate things just to get by. “And that’s before we get to the winter months.” Maryam Zakir-Hussain27 August 2022 11:42 1661595014
Pensioner, 80, says she would be ‘better dead’ than trying to cope with rising winter energy bills
A pensioner said she would be “better dead” than trying to cope with rising energy bills. Sheila Correll, 80, from Lincolnshire said she has been showering less, hand-washing some clothes and cutting out luxuries in a bid to save on gas and electricity bills, but now says pensioners can’t keep up . “I was absolutely petrified,” Ms Correll told The Independent when she saw the top honors announcement. “This is devastating news, we cannot face such increases on our low pensions. It’s a matter of heating or food, but now it’s a matter of not being able to do either of those things.”
Woman, 80, says she’d be ‘better dead’ than face rising energy bills
Embattled Brits have warned of ‘financial genocide’ after energy cap announced which could see bills rise by 80% Maryam Zakir-Hussain27 August 2022 11:10 1661593492
ICYMI- Protesters gather outside Ofgem headquarters calling for ‘payment strike’ on energy bills
Around 100 protesters gathered outside Ofgem’s London headquarters on Friday calling on consumers to withhold payment for “astronomical” energy price rises they could not afford. Crowd members chanted “enough is enough” and held banners reading “Freeze the profits, not the people” in the street at Canary Wharf in London. On Friday, Ofgem confirmed an 80.06 per cent rise in the energy price cap, sending the average household’s annual bill from £1,971 to £3,549 since October. The demonstration was promoted by Don’t Pay UK, a grassroots movement which describes its aim as “building a mass non-payment of energy bills strike starting on 1 October”.
Protesters gather outside Ofgem headquarters calling for a ‘payment strike’ on energy bills
Crowd members chant “enough is enough” Maryam Zakir-Hussain27 August 2022 10:44 1661591317
Price cap experts predict bills will average £7,700 next year
Predictions of what could be the next peak energy price for 24 million households continued to rise as international gas prices show no sign of cooling, a panel of experts has warned. The energy price cap, which has almost doubled from already record highs in early October, could reach above £5,600 by early next year and then rise even further, according to the latest estimates. Families could face poverty over the winter if they have to pay 24.37p per kilowatt hour for the gas they burn to keep their homes at a comfortable temperature. The price is currently 7.37p, already higher than ever. For the average household this means a bill of £5,632 a year from January, up 59% on the newly set next cap which comes on 1 October. And in the worst warning yet, energy consultancy Auxilione has predicted a £7,700 bill from April 2023 – with gas costing consumers 34.22p per kWh. The forecast is an increase of £438 from Auxilione’s forecast on Friday morning, and almost £900 in just two days. Maryam Zakir-Hussain27 August 2022 10:08 1661589999
“The vast majority of people” are now in fuel poverty, says the Labor MP
The “vast majority of people” may now be in fuel poverty, the chairman of the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee has said.
Darren Jones said one possible definition of what fuel poverty means is if after paying housing costs and based on your disposable income, you spend more than 10 per cent of that on energy bills. The Labor MP for Bristol North West told BBC Breakfast: “The vast majority of people are now in this area across the country and that’s why Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have put forward a very important and bold proposal to help almost everyone by keeping the price capped at where it is now and stopped increasing in October because, I think, they correctly concluded that actually the vast majority of people are now affected by it.” Maryam Zakir-Hussain 27 August 2022 09:46 1661588714
ICYMI- Ofgem boss says government must act now to stop price cap rising further
Ofgem boss says government must act now to stop price cap rising further Maryam Zakir-Hussain27 August 2022 09:25 1661587514
‘You don’t have long to wait,’ says George Eustice on new Prime Minister’s plan to tackle energy crisis
The environment minister said people “don’t have long to wait” for news on how the next prime minister will tackle the cost of living crisis. George Eustice said both Tory leadership candidates had already set out “some concrete things” they would do to lighten the burden, but it was right that whoever secured the top job would “want to look at all the…
