We understand the concern and worry that many households across Britain are feeling following the energy price cap rise announcement.
Ofgem’s announcement that the energy price cap level will rise by 54% from 1st April means an average bill increase of £693 a year for households in England, Wales and Scotland, taking the average bill to £1,971 a year. Pre-payment customers will see an average increase of £708 taking their annual bill to £2,017 on average.
The Chancellor immediately announced a number of measures to help mitigate householders facing these huge price rises, coming at the same time as a range of cost-of-living pressures including the increase in National Insurance contributions from April, and rising mortgage rates. In summary:
This means that most households will overall actually face around half of the price cap increase in the next twelve months. What happens beyond 12 months if prices remain high is not addressed.
While this is a scary time, you are not alone. Free help and support is available for households struggling to pay their energy bills, and now is the perfect time to start thinking about how you can reduce your energy use and bills.
Here is a brief recap of what has been happening in the energy industry over the past few months.
In the last six months since the last price cap review six months ago, global energy prices have soared. As the price cap is only reviewed at six-monthly intervals, this has hit the energy companies hard and led to the collapse of many smaller energy suppliers who did not have the resources to weather months where their income was lower than their costs.
This rise in energy bills is likely to affect millions of people. You can find out if the energy price cap rise will affect you on Ofgem’s website.
We are here to help. LEAP’s free energy advice service can prepare you for the upcoming rise in energy bills. Call our free helpline now and book an appointment to discuss your current circumstances and energy tariff with one of our expert energy advisors. You’ll be surprised at how much you can save. We can even arrange to visit you at home and install some simple, free energy saving measures such as LED lightbulbs and radiator reflector panels to help keep your bills low.
LEAP’s income maximisation service, offered via IncomeMax, can also ensure you are receiving the correct benefit entitlements and help you manage any existing debt.
Maximising income for Mrs K
Here is how IncomeMax helped Mrs K, a lady who lived on her own in a home that she owned.
Her only income was her state pension. She hadn’t claimed any further help other than for Council Tax. Mrs K had various health conditions that were causing her a struggle to get out of the home.
IncomeMax found that Mrs K was eligible for a small amount of pension credit and also advised her to claim Attendance Allowance. This made her eligible for another premium in her pension credit and we gave details to apply.
The advice from IncomeMax meant that Mrs K had a further £8,675 total income.
To find out more about how we can help you and apply for free support, please visit the LEAP website or call our free phone line on 0800 060 7567.
Please note that we are not a debt advice / consolidation service, but we can help householders get access to specialist services as appropriate.
