The energy price cap, which regulates the amount that 24 million households pay for their gas and electricity, will jump by around 80% from this autumn, regulator Ofgem has announced.
The price cap on energy bills was introduced in January 2019 as a way to ensure that households that are not bills-savvy are not ripped off by their energy suppliers. Twice a year, energy regulator Ofgem would set the maximum price that households on their supplier’s default tariff would have to pay for every unit of gas and electricity they used for the next six months.
But this year, Ofgem introduced a change - for the price cap to be changed twice as often, so four times a year instead. It previously said the move would help pass on savings from a potential fall in gas prices to customers more rapidly, while protecting under-pressure energy suppliers from being damaged by the cap.
