Energy bills forecast to reach 3-year high: comment

Commenting on Cornwall Insight's final forecast for the October price cap, which estimates a rise of 4% and would see bills rise to their highest level since July 2023 [1], Jess Ralston, Head of Energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said: "To many households this will feel like a horrible reminder of the first gas crisis after Russia invaded Ukraine. What's even more worrying is that wholesale gas prices have reached a near 4-year high [2] which is likely to cause more increases to future bills. This is a result of the UK's continued exposure to high gas prices caused by the war in the Middle East - our reliance on gas for home heating is a particular concern as although electric heat pump sales are on the up, we still lag behind European neighbours going further and faster to reduce gas dependence.
 
“More gas from the North Sea won't lower prices – as this and previous Governments have admitted - so the new Prime Minister will have to look elsewhere for long term relief. Renewables are already squeezing gas off the system, reducing the times it sets the price for our electricity and so lowering wholesale power prices by a third last year. But the UK doesn’t control the price of gas, so unless that shift continues we're putting the prices we pay to heat and power our homes in the hands of geopolitics and actors like Putin and Trump."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. Cornwall Insight

2. UK NBP Natural Gas Futures & Trading Economics 

For more information or for interview requests:

George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: 020 8156 5305, M: 07894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net