‘Lives Will Be Lost This Winter’ Due to Ofgem’s Energy Price Cap Rise, UK Charity Says

On Friday, UK energy regulator Ofgem announced an 80% increase in the energy price cap to 3,549 pounds ($4,194) per year starting October 1, which indicates that the cap has tripled in less than a year.

UK charities have warned that an 80% rise in the energy price cap from October, which was announced on August 26, puts millions of UK households at risk of a winter catastrophe.

The rise may completely “wipe out” the incomes of poorer households, “leaving millions with the threat of bills they cannot pay or the choice between heating and eating this winter,” the Guardian cited charities as claiming.

Experts from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation told the newspaper that “stratospheric” energy bills would plunge many single parents into destitution and would cause an increase in avoidable deaths without urgent government support.

In an interview with the BBC, the foundation’s chief analyst Peter Matejic, in turn suggested that if the UK doesn’t “get further government intervention, on top of what was announced in May, then lives will be lost this winter.”

He was echoed by consumer champion Martin Lewis, who condemned inaction by ministers and warned that “lives will be lost this winter.”

The view was also shared by London Mayor Sadiq Khan as he argued that the UK would face tough times in the months to come due to the continuous increase in the energy price cap if the government fails to act swiftly.

“Today's price cap announcement confirms what many of us have long feared. ​​Despite repeated warnings, the government has consistently failed to intervene and Ministers must act now to prevent this cost of living crisis becoming a national disaster,” Khan tweeted on Friday.

Ofgem Announces Rise in Energy Price Cap

The statement followed an announcement by the UK Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) of an 80% increase in the energy price cap to 3,549 pounds per year starting October 1st due to soaring global energy prices.

Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley warned that energy prices are likely to continue to rise, and called on whoever will be the country's future prime minister to take new measures to tackle skyrocketing prices.

“The [UK energy industry] regulator has done everything that it can... We cannot force companies to buy energy for less than it costs, because ultimately they will not be able to afford to buy the energy that we need. This is a big problem for customers,” Brearley told Sky News.

The price cap was introduced in the UK in 2019 to protect customers and stop retail companies from charging residents unfair sums for meeting their energy needs. Earlier in August, Ofgem announced that the cap would now be reviewed quarterly rather than every six months.

The Conservatives remained in disarray over their response to Friday’s energy price cap increase, with Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi only suggesting that Britons should think about reducing their energy use. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss – a Tory leadership frontrunner – was also tight-­lipped on what she would do to help households beyond saying that she would “ensure people got the support they needed."

Last week, a study conducted by the University of York suggested that at least 45 million Brits may be in the grip of fuel poverty by January 2022 due to the looming energy price cap increase, a scenario that may unfold against the backdrop of the growing UK inflation that has already a 40-year high at 10.1%.

The increase was triggered by record fuel prices, as well as the soaring cost of food, clothing, and furniture that came amid the anti-Russian sanctions slapped by the US and its allies on Moscow over its ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.