Some UK consumers will see cheaper energy bills from July as the government lowers its energy price cap from £2,500 to £2,074 (USD 2,560).
Households in the country are facing rising energy bills after a series of stresses on the energy grid, including the result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The country is also grappling with a cost of living crisis and inflation exceeding 10%.
The lowered price cap, along with an inflation cut to 8.7% announced will provide some relief, but experts warned the government has also scrapped energy bill support for low earners.
The new cap, which relates to the unit price of energy rather than the total bill, will apply from July 1 to September 30, according to a statement from UK Energy regulator Ofgem.
Money Saving Experts Martin Lewis welcomed the reduction in the price cap but said that some people were still paying more for their energy than they would in the winter months, the Zawya reported.
“This is because, apart from for those with high use, the drop in the rates doesn’t make up for the £66 per month state support people got until April – and most are on monthly direct debit, which means they pay the same in summer as winter. Overall, this still leaves people paying double or more what they did before the energy crisis hit in October 2021,” Martin Lewis said.
Data from Ofgem shows that from July consumers will pay 0.30 per kilowatt hour (kWh) or 0.53 per day for electricity and 0.08 per kWh or 0.29 per day for gas.
Gas is widely used in many UK homes for cooking, hot water and central heating. According to the International Energy Agency, this figure decreases by about 0.03 per kWh and stays the same for electricity subscriptions and by 0.02 per kWh and stays the same for gas subscriptions.