UK to Give GBP350 Aid as Energy Price Cap Rises 54% -- Update
03 Febrero 2022 - 8:07AM
Noticias Dow Jones
By Jaime Llinares Taboada
U.K. energy regulator Ofgem said Thursday that it has raised the
country's price cap by 54% to 1,971 pounds ($2,675) a year, and
afterward the government announced an energy-bill rebate to help
customers.
The new price cap for a dual-fuel, direct debit customer
represents a GBP693 increase from the current GBP1,277, reflecting
significantly higher gas and power prices. Sector analysts had
forecast that Ofgem would increase the price cap to around
GBP1,900.
The increase will come into force at the start of April and will
last for six months, until the end of September. Ofgem reviews the
price cap twice a year to reflect wholesale energy prices and other
costs that companies face. In summer, the price cap for a typical
customer stood at GBP1,138.
"We know this rise will be extremely worrying for many people,
especially those who are struggling to make ends meet, and Ofgem
will ensure energy companies support their customers in any way
they can," Ofgem's Chief Executive Jonathan Brearley said.
The regulator added that it will announce further measures to
ease volatility in the energy market on Friday.
Later on Thursday, U.K. Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a
GBP350 energy-bill rebate. All domestic electricity customers will
receive a GBP200 discount on their bills in October, which will
have to be repaid over five years. In addition, households in bands
A to D will have a GBP150 discount on their council tax bills in
April.
"Without government intervention, the increase in the price cap
would leave the average household having to find an extra GBP693.
The actions I'm announcing today will provide, to the vast majority
of households, just over half that amount--GBP350," Mr. Sunak
said.
On Wednesday, before Ofgem announced the new price cap, trade
association Energy UK urged the country's government to protect
customers from the sharp rise in bills. "When international gas
prices are this high, there is a need for government to act, as
other governments already have, to make a real difference to bills
and to protect the wider economy," Energy UK's Chief Executive Emma
Pinchbeck said.
Trade union GMB said the cost-of-living crisis is a direct
result of the U.K. government's energy strategy. "We need a
sensible debate about how we meet and pay for our energy, otherwise
tens of millions of workers and consumers--not to mention the
planet--will continue to suffer," GMB national secretary Andy
Prendergast said.
Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at jaime.llinares@wsj.com;
@JaimeLlinaresT
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 03, 2022 08:52 ET (13:52 GMT)
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