Energy Bills Up 13 Per Cent Define the New Government’s In-Tray
The cost-of-living package Mr Burnham has promised meets an energy market already 13 per cent more expensive: the price cap rose on 1 July from £1,641 to £1,862 a year for a typical direct-debit household, the highest since early 2024. Gas bills rose 24 per cent and electricity 5 per cent, driven by wholesale gas costs after Iran moved against the Strait of Hormuz.
Around 40 per cent of British energy accounts sit on fixed-term contracts and are insulated from the July increase, which means the pain arrives in instalments as those deals expire rather than all at once. Roughly two million households are already in arrears to their supplier, with average energy debt rising from £1,848 in 2023-24 to £2,270 in 2025-26. Consumption has fallen — about 7 per cent less electricity and 17 per cent less gas than at the previous review — which flatters the headline figure without easing the bills. Prices nonetheless remain below the peak of the 2022 crisis. Watch the October cap announcement.