People are already worried about Winter fuel costs after having a welcome reprieve over the hotter-than-usual Summer. However, the bad news continues to come from energy experts.
Two of the top energy brands, E.ON and Octopus Energy, are warning that energy bills could be expected to increase by 20% over the next four years. Octopus, the UK’s largest energy supplier, informed Labour Party MPs that bills are projected to rise by a fifth during this timeframe, even if wholesale market prices decline, primarily due to the growing cost of government policies.
Rachel Fletcher, the director of regulation and economics at Octopus Energy, emphasised that urgent and serious consideration is needed to tackle the rising “non-commodity costs” that are driving up household energy expenses.
Without radical government action, households may face significant increases in their energy bills, as reported in BirminghamLive.
Chris Norbury, the chief executive of E.On UK, said the supplier’s own modelling had suggested that even if the wholesale price was zero bills would still be where they were today because of the increase in non-commodity costs.
We have a dedicated newsletter for ChronicleLive’s money-saving and cost of living stories. It’s free and you can sign up to receive it here. It will keep you up to date with all the latest money news and budgeting tips as well as stories on the cost of living crisis in our region
A government spokesperson said: “We categorically reject this speculation. Wholesale gas costs for households remain 75% higher than they were before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the main reason energy bills remain high.”
“The only way to bring down energy bills for good is by making Britain a clean energy superpower, which will get the UK off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel prices and onto clean, homegrown power that we control,” the spokesperson noted.
“It’s time we got this burden under control,” Fletcher said. “There’s no budgetary control of this and yet it all ends up on household bills or contributing to making our electricity some of the most expensive in the industrialised world.
“We need to get the growth of this burden under control with some proper budgetary control like we have over other taxes.”
“We need a government that is looking at a range of radical options alongside the regulator and other parts of the energy system to much more quickly address the path that we’re on before it’s too late,” Fletcher said.
