Household energy bills set to fall below £2,000 for first time since energy crisis began last year

HOUSEHOLD gas and electricity bills are set to fall below £2,000 in the autumn — for the first time since their sharp rise amid last year’s energy crisis.

Energy analysts say regulator Ofgem’s yearly price cap will drop to £1,978 from October — after falling 17 per cent this weekend, from £2,500 to £2,074.

1

Despite the drop from last year’s sky-high levels, households are still having to pay around £1,000 more for energy than they used to.

This comes at a time when there are record high levels of food inflation and a looming mortgage rate shock for 2.4 million households.

Cornwall Insight, which has made accurate predictions throughout the energy crisis, has forecast the October drop. But it expects energy bills to rise again from next January to £2,004.

Last August, the energy price cap hit £3,549 as gas prices soared sixfold on the back of Russia weaponising its resources following the invasion of Ukraine.

There were fears supplies across Europe would run short.

The prospect of bills spiralling as high as £6,000 prompted the Government to step in with the energy support scheme, which limited household bills to £2,500. That saved households around £1,000.

Since then, a mild winter, household efforts to reduce energy usage and good amounts of gas storage across Europe have led to a fall in gas prices.

Cornwall Insight said the lower price cap prediction reflected consumers “responding to high prices, energy efficiency measures, weather conditions and other influences by reducing their energy usage”.

The firm’s Dr Craig Lowrey said: “Households are still facing the challenge of bills that are well above historic levels.”

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk