Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator, has set the new price cap at £3,549 (€4,200) for average households from 1 October 2022, marking a sharp 80% rise in the cost of energy. Ofgem warned of the hardship energy prices will cause this winter and urged the incoming UK government to provide an additional response to continued surging energy prices.
Ofgem also said it was not sharing projections for January 2023, when a new cap will take effect, as the market continued to be too volatile, but fears the market for gas in winter will lead to significantly worse prices through 2023. In 2021, the annual average bill in the UK was £1,277 (€1,510).
The increase reflects the continued rise in global gas prices, which began to surge with the Covid-19 pandemic, but have been driven still higher to record levels due to the war in Ukraine and strained relations with Russia.