For the fourth winter in a row, Brits are facing sky-high energy bills, with the latest increase at 1.2%. Compared to 2020-21, people are paying 65% above what they previously were, with £700 added to the average household’s bill.
People are already struggling due to the cost of living crisis, meaning households have less ability to pay these high prices. Levels of energy debt are soaring as a result and fuel poor households are forced to use dangerously low amounts of energy during cold snaps.
Meanwhile, the energy industry continues to post huge profits. Twenty firms have made more than £457bn since the start of the crisis between them.
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Voters placed their trust in this government to fix the system, but have been let down at their first winter. For some pensioners who previously benefited from winter fuel payments, but now miss out, energy prices will seem higher than at any point. Those losing winter fuel payments this year include 1.2 million pensioners in absolute poverty. Four-fifths of older people with a long-term health condition or disability will no longer receive support with energy bills this winter. As a result, 752,000 older people will not use heating at all this winter.
With Ofgem themselves warning that high energy bills will last into next winter, ministers must support those most at risk from the ill effects of living in a cold damp home. The solution backed by most charities is a social tariff – a unit discount on bills for those groups who have pre-existing health conditions, disabilities or other vulnerabilities which make them susceptible to the energy prices.
In the long term, the government has inherited a broken energy system and it will take time to untangle the mess and bring down bills. As a country, we have suffered disproportionately from the energy crisis, due to our over-reliance on volatile oil and gas.