HARD-UP families face a £94 New Year’s Day energy bill hike due to Britain “feeding foreign firms’ profits” over investing in home insulation and sustainable power, experts warn today.
Campaigners slammed energy regulator Ofgem’s “cruel” energy price cap rise which will see bills go up to £1,928 per year — a difference of nearly £100 for the average household.
They warned struggling families will face “an assault from all sides” after the Tories allowed energy giants to take in huge profits from Britain’s over-reliance on the volatile wholesale market this year.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Energy bills are already 50 per cent higher than two years ago, so today’s rise will just hammer households even harder in the coming year.
“No-one should struggle to get by in one of the richest countries in the world.
“But 13 years of wage stagnation and cuts to social security have left millions badly exposed to sky-high bills this winter.”
Mr Nowak said it “doesn’t have to be this way” as other governments are investing in publicly owned clean power and insulating homes.
“The UK is feeding foreign firms’ profits and subsidising cheaper bills abroad, while British households struggle to heat their homes and pay their bills,” he said.
The year started with households’ energy bills being limited to an average of £2,500 by the government’s energy price guarantee.
Although bills have dropped since then, the price cap rise comes as they remain significantly higher than before the energy crisis began.
Charities have warned that many households are struggling to pay for their energy, with more than one million of Britain’s most vulnerable adults living in “Dickensian” cold and damp homes this winter.
Research by the Warm This Winter campaign suggests that around 850,000 people who have a child under six or who are pregnant are frequently exposed to mould.
End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis told the Morning Star: “Struggling households are facing an assault from all sides.
“Energy bills are going up just as winter bites hard, Christmas debts have to be paid off and the ongoing wider cost-of-living crisis continues into another year.
“Ofgem needs to abolish this January price hike. The cruel impact of a change in bills at this time of year can't be underestimated.
“Unaffordable energy prices are here to stay and even in winter 2024/25, energy bills are expected to be 60 per cent higher than winter 2020/21.
“This means the UK government needs to take much more action to help people stay warm this winter and every winter through increased support for home insulation and cheaper renewable energy.”
The TUC has argued households could save thousands of pounds if Britain had a state-backed energy generation company akin to France’s EDF, EnBW in Germany or Sweden’s Vattenfall.
The Labour leadership lost a showdown at its annual conference in October over the party’s approach to nationalising critical infrastructure proposed by Unite.
General secretary Sharon Graham said the party must “make different choices,” as its motion to “reaffirm” the party’s commitment to public ownership of railways and the energy industry was backed by members.
But Mr Francis warned: “What we need to prioritise is reform of standing charges so people are not penalised even if they cut back on their energy use.
“Combined with that we need to see reform of electricity pricing arrangements and the role of market traders in dictating energy prices.
“Doing this will mean that consumers can benefit from cheaper domestic renewable energy coming onto the grid.
“Due to the global pressures of energy prices, nationalising suppliers would only work if production, transmission and distribution of energy was also nationalised but the costs of doing that could be prohibitive.
“Reforming the market is probably a more achievable goal in the short to medium term.”
