Ministers urged to curb energy costs as Great British homes face 13% bill surge

Ministers are facing growing pressure to lower energy costs as households in Great Britain face the steepest rise in summer bills in four years this week. The quarterly cap on gas and electricity charges will rise by 13% from Wednesday to the equivalent of £1,862 a year for an average household, just days after figures revealed that consumer energy debt had reached record highs. Unpaid energy bills have climbed by £240m in the past three months, according to the data released by the industry regulator Ofgem, last week, to reach an all-time high of almost £4.8bn. Andy Burnham, who appears set to become the next prime minister , will face immediate calls to tackle high energy bills upon taking power, amid fears over their impact this winter. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has previously ruled out offering the universal energy support provided by Liz Truss’s government in 2022. James Mabey, a policy analyst at National Energy Action, a fuel poverty charity, said: “The consequences of energy debt include cold homes, rising anxiety and impossible choices about essentials. The right response is to scale debt relief.” As households have fallen deeper into debt, wholesale energy prices have surged due to the war in Iran, which has disrupted oil and gas shipments via the strait of Hormuz for the past four months. …