Uswitch comments on Liz Truss’s energy price guarantee

Justina Miltienyte, head of policy at Uswitch.com, comments: 

“After endless reports of ever-increasing price predictions, consumers will be breathing a sigh of relief. Finally there’s a plan that removes the uncertainty of quarterly price increases and goes some way towards giving people the reassurances they need to get through the winter.

“But amid the solace, it’s important to remember that we are not out of the woods yet. Even if rates are not as high as they were going to be, households will still be facing an extremely difficult winter.

“Taking into account the £400 energy bill support, households could pay on average £237 more for energy over the three coldest months than they did last year[1] - on top of hikes across other essentials such as food and fuel.

“It’s important to remember that bills are not frozen. This is a cap on the unit rate of the energy you use - it is not a cap on your final bill. The less energy you use, the less you will pay, so you may still be able to save money by managing your energy usage this winter.

“This help, while much-needed, is unaffordable to sustain. The longer we have to rely on Government support to keep prices down, the higher the final bill will be for taxpayers for years, if not decades, to come.

“With the pressure lifted for this winter, we welcome the announcement of an energy supply task force that must now sort out the structural problems of the wholesale energy market and how it interacts with the blunt price cap mechanism.

“Reforming the wholesale market goes hand-in-hand with reducing our dependence on non-renewable energy. Electricity prices can no longer be dictated by fossil fuels, especially gas, and it’s good to see a commitment to more quickly let customers benefit from the lower prices generated by renewables. 

“Removing gas dependency would also protect households from a repeat of the most aggressive price shocks.

“The Government has made a start towards tackling the energy crisis, but now needs to work out how to make sure this never happens again.”

—

Discover our advice and tips on how to reduce your energy usage to lower your billshere.

–ENDS–

Notes to editors

1. Extrapolating current gas and electricity unit rates and standings with those provided for original October price cap, a £2,500 price cap freeze yields: a 9.8p/kWh gas unit rate; 28p/day gas standing charge; 36p/kWh electricity unit rate; 46p/day electricity standing charge. Applying these to Ofgem’s usage profile expected over December, January and February suggests a medium-use household will pay £820.49 for their energy this year, compared with £382.78 last year. Dividing the £400 energy bill support over six months equates to £66.67 per month. Reducing £820.49 by 3 x £66.67 = £620.48. £620.48 - £382.78 = £237.70 increase compared to last year.  

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Prisca Simango

Phone: 07971 093 512

Email: prisca.simango@rvu.co.uk

Twitter: @UswitchPR

About Uswitch 

Uswitch is one of the UK’s top comparison websites for home services switching, including energy, broadband and mobiles. 

More people go to Uswitch to switch their energy, broadband and mobile than any other site, and we have saved consumers over £2.7 billion off their bills since we launched in September 2000.

Free mobile app Utrack also helps households manage their home energy usage and make potential savings. 

Uswitch is part of RVU, a group of online brands with a mission to empower consumers to make more confident home services, insurance and financial decisions.