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Winter energy bills cap less than previous years

Vicky Parry 30th Aug 2023 No Comments

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The winter energy bills cap is in place, but not as much as in previous years.

The energy price cap will, from October 2023, be set at £1,923, which is £150 less than the previous cap. This means that energy bills are coming down, they’re just not coming down by much.

Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said: “With government help unlikely to be repeated, most households won’t notice a great deal of difference this winter.”

Budget pressure over the last of couple years has meant that many people have cut their energy use right down, possibly permanently, as they try every measure to shave money off their bills, including lowering their thermostats and getting used to the temperature difference.

“Those changes can only be made once,” said Hewson, “so most households will struggle to find additional savings this winter, especially if we have a long, hard, cold one.”

“Plus, there will be lots of households who are heading into the autumn with their accounts in deficit when normally they’d have been able to create a cushion over the summer.

Global supply is so tight that even the threat of strike action in Australia has sent gas prices surging upward.

What needs to happen next for us to struggle less?

What we’d hoped would have happened would be that rival companies offered us tempting fixed-rate terms, making it easy for us to just jump sideways into a deal with another energy supplier. However, changes made in the last few years to the way those deals operate have dampened competition considerably.

“And not every energy user will find their bills falling because of quirks in the way the pricing structure works,” warned Hewson.

“Even the boss of energy watchdog Ofgem has said the crude cap isn’t fit for purpose and with interest rates still rising there will be plenty of pressure on the government to come up with a clear plan for the country’s energy conundrum.”

Households are still stretched as the previous £400 government payouts are unlikely to be repeated, but some kind of government help needs to be implemented in the face of these insurmountable costs. Energy supply is still tight, which is leading to concern that the cap could rise again in January; and when we’re already struggling without sign of help, how will we cope?

If you’re having trouble paying your bills, we have some top tips here. We’ve also got some ideas on how to stay warm without putting the heating on. That may seem a bit depressing, but a mix of saving energy and these kinds of tips might be the way forward this winter.