The NPC fears the impact of the new year increase in energy bills on millions of older and vulnerable people who can no longer rely on winter fuel payments.
Energy regulator Ofgem has just announced (Friday, 22nd November) a 1.2% increase of the energy price cap covering fuel bills suppliers can charge for the period covering January-March 2025. Average household bills will now rise by £21 per year or around £1.75 a month. For an average household paying by Direct Debit for dual fuel this equates to £1,738 per year.
Commenting, Jan Shortt, NPC General Secretary said: “Older people are struggling now with energy costs and have to balance staying warm with a multitude of other claims on their fixed income. Those who have lost the winter fuel payment can easily fall into debt and become a government statistic on poverty. That this government is so willing for older people to be the collateral damage of their unethical policy decision is appalling.”
The change to the price cap – which sets a maximum rate per unit and standing charge that can be billed to customers for their energy use – has been announced just as temperatures have dropped across the country.
Jan Shortt added: “It is particularly concerning that, in the face of the continued profit-making of energy suppliers, the government chooses to ignore our pleas to reinstate the winter fuel payment for all older and disabled people.
The government keeping repeating the misleading suggestion that the triple lock rise in April 2025 will offset the loss of the winter fuel payment and the next energy price increases. Only a quarter of retirees will qualify for the highest amount of increases, based on the triple lock percentage rise in the state pension – most won’t get anywhere near that because they are on the old, pre-2016 pension. And by April, they will already had to face high energy bills.”
This is the second price cap rise this winter and puts bills now over 50% higher than pre-Covid levels. The price cap affects those on default, variable tariffs, not those who have fixed a price for a set period. It is set every three months by Ofgem, although the regulator illustrates the change by showing the impact on the annual bill of a household with typical energy usage.
The previously universal winter fuel payment, worth up to £300, is now only being paid only to those on low incomes who receive certain benefits.
According to the government's own estimates, an additional 50,000 pensioners will be living in relative poverty next year as a result of cuts to the payment.
ENDS