IT will soon cost £56 to cook a tasty Sunday roast after the April price cap kicks in.
Gas and electricity bills are set to increase again for millions of households across the county – adding even more strain to cash-strapped Brits.
2
The annual bill for a household using an average amount of energy will go up to £1,849 per year – an increase of £111.
Those living on fixed-priced deals won’t be affected by the price cap, which changes every three months.
To cook a roast chicken in a 4KW oven for an hour every Sunday will now cost nearly £60 for the whole year.
For those with 2KW ovens it’s better news as the bird would only need half an hour.
read more on energy prices
And it’s going to be more expensive to use kitchen appliances, like a dishwasher – which is an absolute must after a roast dinner.
Although dishwashers are actually cheaper to run than doing the washing up, the average electricity cost for one cycle is 1kWh.
It’s currently 24.86p per kWh, but from April 1 it will increase to 27.03p when Ofgem hikes the prices.
The pending spike marks the third consecutive quarter that bills have risen for around 22million households on standard variable tariffs (SVTs).
The figure is also £159 per year higher than the price cap set for the same period last year, but £531 lower than at the height of the energy crisis in early 2023.
The latest rise is because of an increase in gas prices across Europe, caused by a slump in the amount of gas that is held in storage across the continent.
While the price cap is likely to go up, in practice, most people will pay less to their energy suppliers in the spring and summer months.
That is because households typically use less energy then, but the rate they are paying per unit will still rise.
Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley said: “We know that no price rise is ever welcome, and that the cost of energy remains a huge challenge for many households.
“But our reliance on international gas markets leads to volatile wholesale prices, and continues to drive up bills, which is why it’s more important than ever that we’re driving forward investment in a cleaner, homegrown system.
It comes after forecasting group Cornwall Insights said last week it expects the typical annual household energy bill to rise by about £85 to £1,823.
Despite the rise, average bills remain considerably lower than during the peak of the energy crisis, which was fuelled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The war caused a spike in an already turbulent wholesale energy market, driving up costs for suppliers and customers.
Before the energy price shock, a standard annual bill was £1,084.
Ofgem said 4million customers have moved to a fixed tariff since its last price cap announcement in November, taking the total to 11million, meaning they will not be affected by the increase.
This was the largest movement of customers coming off the price cap and on to a fixed deal since the energy crisis, the regulator said.
The next price cap for July 1 until September 30 will be announced in May.
It’s adjusted every three months to reflect rises and falls in wholesale costs.
2
#Cost #cooking #Sunday #roast #set #rise #April #price #cap #kicks
Leave a Reply