The head of Ofgem has warned that Scots households should anticipate another raise in energy prices this year.
Speaking at the All Energy event in Glasgow, regulator chief Jonathan Brearley said: "Gas markets remain in a febrile state since the Russian invasion.
"Prices fluctuated from nearly 16 times the average price last winter at its highest to around 4 times what we'd usually see.
"The market remains highly volatile and as a result we do expect further price increases later this year."
Analysts Cornwall Insight already predicted this hike and that households would see their bills rise by as much as £600 from October.
That would make the typical household's gas and electricity bills £2,595, reports the Mirror.
Mr Brearley continued: "Many of you in the room know the impact the gas crisis has on the sector, but most importantly it is putting huge strain on the customers we serve.
"I talk to customers on a regular basis, and I know how tough rising energy prices are for many households and businesses.
"For some, not being able to afford rising energy bills is literally a matter of life and death."
Around 1.5million UK households will struggle to pay food and energy bills amid a deepening cost-of-living crisis that will plunge Britain into a recession, a leading think tank warned today.
Soaring inflation compounded by the war in Ukraine will see many families hit with food and energy bills greater than their disposable income, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) estimates.
It has called for the Government to offer emergency support as it predicted that more than 250,000 households will "slide into destitution" next year, with the total number in extreme poverty to hit around one million unless urgent action is taken.
Niesr said Chancellor Rishi Sunak should hike Universal Credit payments by £25 per week and give a one-off £250 cash payout to the UK's 11.3 million lower-income households.
But today the Prime Minister said the Government cannot "completely shield" people from the rising cost of living, as he came under fire for not using the Queen's Speech to promise more support.
The Prime Minister used the Queen's Speech, delivered for the first time by the Prince of Wales, to set out plans for changes to create a "high-wage, high-skill" economy, claiming the Government's programme would "build the foundations for decades of prosperity".
But charities, campaigners and opposition politicians criticised the lack of any short-term measures to help people faced with soaring costs in their day-to-day lives.
The Prime Minister hinted at future help, using the "fiscal firepower" of the Government.
"We will continue to use all our ingenuity and compassion for as long as it takes," he told MPs. "The Chancellor and I will be saying more about this in the days to come."
Boris Johnson, in his response to the Queen's Speech, warned there were limits on how much public money he was prepared to commit to addressing a global economic crisis.
But he told MPs: "We will continue to use all our ingenuity and compassion for as long as it takes.
"The Chancellor and I will be saying more about this in the days to come."
Households are currently facing rising energy bills, inflation is forecast to hit 10% and benefits and wages failing to keep up with the increase in prices.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called the response to cost of living demands "pathetic" and accused the Government of being "bereft of leadership".
He told Mr Johnson: "This Government's failure to grow the economy over a decade, combined with its inertia in the face of spiralling bills, means that we are staring down the barrel of something we haven't seen in decades, a stagflation crisis."
Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank, said ministers had not announced "anything that will make a material difference" to boosting economic growth.
The former Labour adviser tweeted: "Nothing material today on the short term nightmare of cost of living - Government has basically made up its mind to wait until September (when we find out how bad winter energy prices will be).
"The pattern here is help being too slow, too small and poorly targeted."
The Government highlighted the £22billion package of help with energy bills, tax cuts and other measures already announced.
Mr Johnson said the "aftershocks of Covid-19 and the biggest war in Europe since 1945" are causing disruption around the world, with all major economies facing cost-of-living pressures.
Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Alison Garnham said "this speech was a far cry from what struggling families needed to hear today", offering "no short-term comfort for parents struggling to feed their kids in the face of rocketing prices".
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