Ofgem has announced this morning energy bills are to rise by £149 a year from October as it raises the price cap to £1,717. A 10% hike…
Starmer may have outlasted Truss on the number of days held in office, though this is something he’s sure to not be celebrating. Especially as Starmer was so quick to slam the Tories in 2022 when the cap rose, “devastating” people across the country. And as usual promising the land of milk and honey with Labour’s much-publicised “fully costed plan to freeze energy bills“. Another U-Turn there…
Labour issued a panicked 1,334-word “Political Briefing” press release this morning pointing the finger squarely at the Tories, (despite the energy cap actually being lowered in the last few months of Sunak’s government). Ed Miliband took to X to blast the “toxic legacy” they left behind. It’s worth noting that during the election Miliband banged on about Labour policies saving households £300 a year. He’s been told from above to drop that promise now…
In so more good news for the Tories, household energy bills are set to drop by £122 a year, with Ofgem’s price cap falling from £1,690 to £1,568 from July 1st. Just three days before the general election, which is not enough time for voters to feel the price drop…
As Sunak promises to deliver voters a better deal on energy costs, this marks the lowest price in bills since before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The Tories are already jumping on this to claim victory on falling energy prices, though Starmer noted that bills are still up £400 since the Ukraine war. Success has many fathers…
Some good news for readers heading in to the weekend. From April Fool’s Day, energy bills for most households in Britain will fall by £238 to an average of £1,690 a year, the lowest since Russia invaded Ukraine as the energy price cap is lowered. Still, the price cap is over £1,000 more than it was in 2022, the real impacts on peoples’ wallets will follow what Hunt decides to do in March.
Ofgem cut the price cap by 12% as wholesale gas prices continue to drop, thanks to ample liquefied natural gas imports from America and robust European gas storage levels. Just imagine what the price would be if we tapped into more of our own natural gas…
With the Ofgem price cap falling again, dropping the typical energy bill to £1,923, Rishi was immediately in front of the cameras to hail the good news. Although that’s still much higher than the £1000 bill from just three years ago…
Ofgem has, as expected, raised the energy price cap from £1,971 to £3,549 a year, starting in October. They ominously add:
“Although Ofgem is not giving price cap projections for January because the market remains too volatile, the market for gas in Winter means that prices could get significantly worse through 2023.”
Ofgem chief Jonathan Brearley says “it’s clear the new Prime Minister will need to act further”.
Given digging through the archives of Liz’s former policy views is popular at the moment, Guido thought he’d go back through some of her old sit-down sessions with think tanks to see what else he could unearth. One policy proposal from the then-Chief Secretary to the Treasury seems particularly relevant at the moment, given the ongoing debate about energy and water. In 2018 Liz called for a single utilities regulator.
Speaking to a fringe meeting of the IEA and Taxpayers’ Alliance, Liz said:
“In terms of regulations on businesses we’ve seen a build up over the years. One example I’d use is utility regulation, we’ve got all these different utilities regulators, they go into immense detail. I’d like to see a single regulator so you could have more free competition and just focus on the key economic regulation and monopolies rather than the infinitesimal detail they go in to.”
During the leadership race, the FT has revealed Liz is eyeing up a merger of three different financial regulators – the Financial Conduct Authority, Prudential Regulation Authority and Payments Systems Regulator – into one single body. Vince Cable says this policy would be “dangerous“. Centralised or decentralised regulation? Tough one, probably not the key priority facing the nation…
