London (Parliament Politic Magazine) – Starting in October, the cost of energy for a regular home using gas and electricity will be less. The price limit set by the government will make the bills go down by £151 compared to now, and £577 lower than last winter.
However, some people might not notice a big change in their bills because the government is not giving as much help as before. Groups that help people in need say the government should take care of families that might have a hard time paying their bills.
Prices Might Go Up Again In The Beginning Of Next Year
Even though things are better than before, the money you have to pay for gas and electricity is still high when we look at how it was in the past. Back in the winter of 2021, a normal household had to pay £1,277 for energy. Experts also think that the prices might go up again at the beginning of the next year.
The head of the organization that controls these rules, Ofgem, Jonathan Brearley, said, “We understand that people are having trouble with the higher costs of living, and I can’t promise that things will get easier this winter.” Because the prices can change a lot, it’s hard for customers to know what will happen for a long time.
How The Price Limit Works
The rules from Ofgem affect 29 million homes in England, Wales, and Scotland. These rules decide the most a company can charge for each unit of gas and electricity, but not the whole bill. If you use more energy, you will have to pay more.
For a home that uses a normal amount of gas and electricity and pays with direct debit, the bill for a year is £2,074. This will go down to £1,923 between October 1 and December 31.
In detail, the cost of gas will go from 7.5p per unit to 6.89p for the last three months of the year. The cost of electricity will go from 30.1p per unit to 27.35p.
They figure out the normal bill based on what a regular home uses: 2,900 units of electricity and 12,000 units of gas. People who pay their bills every three months, usually with a check, will have to pay £129 more each year compared to those who use direct debit.
Energy Bills For Homes Will Be Less Expensive
Energy bills for homes will be less expensive compared to last year, around £2,500, when the government helped to prevent even higher prices after Russia invaded Ukraine. But the special discount of £400 that the government gave to households last year won’t happen again. This discount was divided into six smaller payments and given between October and March.
Adam Scorer, who works at a charity called National Energy Action, said that if the weather gets colder than last year, some people might still have to pay more. He worries that many people might struggle to pay for heating in their homes during the cold months.
The charity Citizens Advice wants the government to help those who need it most. They’ve noticed that 17% more people asked them for advice on how to pay their energy bills in the first half of this year.
The leader of the government, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, said they’re doing their best to help people have enough money for their needs. He wants to make sure that even when prices go down, people who have a hard time paying their bills still get help.
There’s also something called a “standing charge” that households have to pay. This is a fixed amount of money that covers things like supplying energy to homes. Even if people use less energy, this charge doesn’t go down.
The cost of this charge is going up because of inflation, which is when prices for things increase. This makes it harder for energy companies to lower their prices. The standing charge for electricity will be about 53p per day starting in October. For gas, it will be about 30p per day.
Someone named Jay Cross, who owns a barbershop, said that he and his wife had trouble paying their energy bills last year. They ended up owing more money and had to make special plans to catch up on those payments.