New Developments In The Energy Crisis

We’re sure you will have seen across the media that there’s been big changes to the cost of everyone’s bills recently.

Understanding why this is happening can be confusing if you don’t understand all the utility jargon which has been floating around, we hope this helps clear some of that up.

There are several factors which are causing the cost of gas and electricity to rise so rapidly, and we’ve tried to break this down for you below. Here’s some of our most frequently asked questions…

‘Energy’ refers to your gas and electricity. The cost of this is set by your suppliers. If the energy suppliers raise their prices, then these increases are passed directly onto the customer.

Due to the unpredictability of the energy market right now, variable price cap tariffs are the cheapest available. Put simply, no energy suppliers are offering fixed costs lower than the price cap.

The price cap was introduced by the energy regulator Ofgem and sets out how much energy suppliers can charge consumers so that essentially, we don’t get ripped off. However, as the cost of energy is rapidly increasing for suppliers, Ofgem have had to allow suppliers to also raise their rates, or it wouldn’t be sustainable for them.

This is currently being reviewed by Ofgem every 3 months, whereas previously it was looked at only every 6 months. Should there be a change to the price cap, we’ll always communicate this to our customers with as much notice as possible.

The latest price cap increase was announced on 26th August 2022, when it was confirmed that there will be an 80% increase in the cost of energy from 1st October 2022.

We welcome the latest Government intervention that has seen the typical household energy bill only go up by 27% as opposed to the earlier predicted 80%, with prices remaining stable for the next two years.

The Government’s commitment to issuing the £400 Energy Bill Support Grant until March 2023, will help offset rising prices dramatically, reducing impact to customer bills.

We are currently in the process of issuing communications to our customers to notify them on how this will affect them and how they will receive the full benefit of the Government Energy Support Grant.

Source – https://www.unihomes.co.uk/blog/the-energy-crisis-an-update-from-unihomes