Andy Burnham has signalled that there will be more support to help people with their bills in the budget, as the energy price cap rose by 4 per cent, taking household energy costs in Britain to their highest level in three years from October.
Ofgem has increased the cap by 4 per cent from 1 October, taking the annual bill for a typical household to £1,723, up from £1,663, under the regulator’s updated definition of a typical consumer, which came into effect in July to reflect falling energy use. Under the previous calculation for the usage of the average household, the cap rises by £73, or 4 per cent, to £1,935 a year. The regulator said around 11 million households on fixed tariffs, roughly 35 per cent of the total, are unaffected by the change.
Speaking to reporters at a supermarket in London, the prime minister said the government would look at how to get prices “down in the long term”.
“It’s difficult for people and I recognise that,” Burnham said. “But it’s why, within days of taking office, I announced that we would remove VAT off electricity bills to give people that little bit of help.
“That kicks in from October. We know the price cap will have an impact, but it is what we can do right now.
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