Tomorrow (1 October) the price cap rises 10%. A new survey by fuel poverty charity National Energy Action and YouGov finds almost half of adults in GB (46%) say they are likely to ration their energy use this winter.

As Ofgem announces the new price cap today (Friday 23 August), fuel poverty charity National Energy Action’s figures show the number of UK households in fuel poverty will rise to 6 million from October.

Energy sector consultancy Cornwall Insight has predicted that the October price cap level will rise for a ‘typical’ household, ahead of winter when energy use is higher.

National Energy Action’s Impact Report 2023-24 highlights the work we’ve done and the challenges we’ve faced over the last year as the national fuel poverty and energy efficiency charity.

Today (Friday 24 May), the energy regulator Ofgem announced that the level of the price cap from July to September will fall by £122 to £1,568 per year for a typical household.

National Energy Action (NEA) has been involved in policy work to maintain and reform the Default Tariff price cap for several years. This has included working with Ofgem to initially create the Safeguard Tariff cap for prepayment and other vulnerable customers. Subsequently, NEA helped to design the Default Tariff price cap to ensure it offers as much protection for low-income and vulnerable customers as possible.

National Energy Action welcomes the opportunity to input into this process and calls on Ofgem to consider solutions it has the power to create, in addition to working with the UK Government to create enduring solutions to debt and affordability challenges.

Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action says that despite the price cap falling £238 a year for typical households from April, 2.3 million households are on average paying more than at the height of the crisis because of energy debt.

Ofgem has opened a Call for Input on the subject, which will close on 13 May 2024. This briefing highlights National Energy Action’s emerging views on what Ofgem and government can do to tackle affordability and still-rising debt levels.