{"id":107043,"date":"2025-04-01T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/?p=107043"},"modified":"2025-04-01T03:30:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T02:30:45","slug":"millions-energy-customers-face-111-bill-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/millions-energy-customers-face-111-bill-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"Millions of Energy Customers Face \u00a3111 Bill Rise as Ofgem Price Cap Kicks In"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Millions of UK households are bracing for higher costs this April as energy bills climb by an average of \u00a3111 per year<\/strong>, according to Birmingham Live<\/em>.<\/a> The rise follows the latest Ofgem price cap update<\/strong>, pushing the annual cost for a typical dual fuel household on direct debit from \u00a31,738 to \u00a31,849<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monthly Budgets Hit as Energy and Utility Costs Climb<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The change represents an additional \u00a39.25 per month<\/strong> for many families, with price variations depending on household energy <\/a>usage and region. This marks a significant new strain on consumers already adjusting to broader cost-of-living pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alice Haine<\/strong>, personal finance analyst at Bestinvest by Evelyn Partners<\/strong>, said the increase comes at a time when many had hoped the worst of the economic squeeze was over.
\u201cFor a while it seemed as though the cost-of-living crisis was behind us; inflation was easing, interest rates were coming down and the road ahead looked brighter,\u201d she said.
\u201cBut a mixed bag of miserable macro-economic news of late has radically shifted that outlook.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the Price Cap Means for Households<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ofgem\u2019s price cap doesn\u2019t limit the total bill but instead caps the unit cost of gas and electricity<\/strong>, along with standing charges<\/strong>. This means the final bill still depends on how much energy a household consumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From April, standing charges<\/strong>\u2014daily fees to connect to the energy grid\u2014will rise for gas<\/strong> but fall for electricity<\/strong>, though this too will vary by region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price cap is designed to prevent energy companies from overcharging customers on standard variable tariffs, but it is recalculated every three months in response to wholesale energy prices and supplier costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water Bills Also Set to Rise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In addition to energy hikes, households in England and Wales<\/strong> will see their water bills increase by an average of \u00a386 over the coming year. The change is part of a long-term plan by Ofwat<\/strong>, the industry regulator, to fund a \u00a3104 billion infrastructure upgrade by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulator has approved a \u00a331 annual increase from water companies, rising to a total of \u00a3157 over five years<\/strong>\u2014representing a 36% increase before inflation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumer groups have expressed concern over these increases, especially given ongoing criticism of under-investment and service quality in the water sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A major change this April will see energy customers across the UK hit with higher bills\u2014prompting fresh concerns over rising household costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107044,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107043\/revisions\/107044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}