Millions of households across the UK will pay more for gas and electricity bills as of today, as the largest increase in energy bills ever takes effect. Ofgem’s price cap has been raised by 54% to reflect the higher wholesale energy costs now passed on to consumers, adding to a growing cost-of-living crisis. The Resolution Foundation, a think tank, said the number of English households under fuel pressure would double overnight from 2.5 million to 5 million. A gas stove is burning on a stove in a kitchen in Basingstoke, Hampshire. Photo: Andrew Matthews / PA Pressure on energy prices is likely to worsen only because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and threats to Europe’s gas supply. Russia is a major supplier to countries such as Germany and President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that European customers would have to pay for gas in rubles, although order details appeared to allow buyers to continue using euros or dollars, for now. Jonathan Marshall, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: Another increase in energy bills this fall is accelerating the need for more immediate support, as well as a clear, long-term strategy to improve home insulation, boost renewable and nuclear power generation and market reform. so that household energy bills are lower depends on world gas prices. Citizens Advice said about five million people will not be able to pay their energy bills from April, even because of the support the government has already announced, the Press Association reports. He warned that number would almost triple to one in four people in the UK – over 14 million – if the price ceiling were raised again in October, according to current forecasts. Energy prices are not the only thing on the rise: a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce found that more UK businesses are preparing to raise prices at any time since 1980, possibly further fueling inflationary pressures. When companies were asked by the BCC what pressures they faced to raise prices, 92% of manufacturers cited raw materials, while 56% cited energy and transportation costs among other overheads. All this increases the pressure on the government, which faced a series of negative headlines after the spring statement of Chancellor Rishi Sunak. The statement was seen as minimal to deal with the much-anticipated decline in living standards since the 1950s.
THE AGENDA
10 am. BST: Inflation in the Eurozone (March, previous: 5.9%, consensus: 6.6%) 1:30 p.m. BST: Payroll outside the US (March, previous: 678,000, consent: 490,000)
