UK household energy bills are set to skyrocket by 80% in October when the price ceiling dictating how much suppliers can charge is set to be lifted by The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets; the nation’s energy regulator. According to estimates from consultancy Auxilione, the average household energy bill is expected to rise to £3,600 ($4,292) a year; up from the current average of £1,971, which came into effect in April this year.
The rise in energy bills, as well as other household costs, comes as a result of the ongoing natural gas rally, with the price of household gas rising by 15% this week alone. Rupert Harrison, portfolio manager at BlackRock Inc., remarked that “UK and European gas and power prices continue rising to truly scary levels.”
“The Government will have to act on a very large scale to support households, especially those on lower incomes – and also probably small businesses. The scale of this shock is hard to overstate,” Harrison warned, as bills seem set to continue rising in the later stages of 2022 as well as into the new year.