Energy chief warns prices could rise HIGHER still in the winter

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

The head of Octopus Energy has warned energy prices could rise even further in the winter.

Until now Ofgem’s price cap, which is reviewed every six months, has protected customers from the rising costs. Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) warned the cost of heating an average home has now doubled in 18 months, leaving 6.5 million households unable to live in a warm, safe home across the UK.

The change, which happened on April 1, will add an average of £58 onto monthly bills for the typical household and experts predict that bills could rise further, to more than £2,300 per year for the typical household in October.

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Chief Executive Greg Jackson told LBC: “Global energy prices is one of the most volatile markets and so it’s a fool who will make a strong prediction. But what we do know is that the next energy price cap period is being set by the prices we’re seeing now, because there’s a sort of lag in the system.

“So unless there’s a very rapid fall in the global prices, energy costs for people in the UK will stay high over the winter. They could even be higher. We just don’t know. But of course we’re now in a situation where there are two factors that really make a difference.

“First one is whether there are any more strategic moves related to Russia, whether the gas taps get turned down or not. And the second is what the weather does.

“Essentially, what matters now is Europe going to be filling its gas storage because we’ve got mild weather? Or is it going to be emptying it because we’ve got bad weather? So depending on the weather between now and the winter, there could be a very big difference in energy prices in the