Isle of Wight households are being told to brace themselves for annual energy bills of around £3,850 by Christmas – this is on average 3x what was being paid at the start of 2022.
This latest hike will equate to about £320 a month, but not the £500 stated in some media, and will leave many families and households seriously feeling the pinch this winter.
Speaking on behalf of the Footprint Trust, senior energy officer Ray Harrington-Vail has said:
“Last year households had the option of shopping around to find the best deal, and keeping ahead of the game. Switching energy suppliers or tariffs is now not an option in most cases. Most customers are better off staying in the deal they are in, and when it comes to an end going onto the variable tariff, which has a price cap.”
“It is important to take note that the figures being quoted in the media are averages, so not everyone will be faced with £4,000 annual bills. It is essential to understand what the price cap actually means. It is not the case that there is a maximum you can be charged, regardless of the amount of energy is used. The price cap is the unit price of gas or electricity.”
“Using energy wisely must become the norm, the days of cheap utilities are over, for the foreseeable future.”
The £400 energy payment will start to be taken off energy bills in October, but the government does need to increase this amount, particularly for the poorest of households.
In the meantime, it is imperative that those on low income talk to their utility companies and inform them of their situation. They have pledged to help following a meeting with consumer champion Martin Lewis.
Anyone concerned about their energy bills can contact the local Footprint Trust charity for guidance and information by email i[email protected] on call them on 01983 822282.
This is an utter disgrace. Greed on the part of the energy companies. The bloody Tory Government are doing nothing to avoid these price hikes. Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer stated earlier in the week, they would freeze prices now for 6 months. More gumption in his his little finger than all of the useless Tory t*ats put together!
Liz Truss even supports the energy companies and stated, profit should not be a dirty word!!!
Well they’ll certainly be making plenty of profit, just like BP and Shell due to petrol prices being so high. Greed, total greed.
The Tories don’t lack gumption.
They lack morals.
Plenty of “gumption” when it comes to lying to the electorate, victim blaming, lining their own pockets and ensuring their backers get all the support they want.
Yes but Kia wanted the lockdown ,sooner and longer so we print money which causes massive inflation.Plus labour are also a key supporter of renewable energy which is a pipe dream .We turned our back on cheap reliable energy including francking to rely on imports and unreliable, expensive alternative energies.
Take the Green tax off right away and never listen to a word Greta says agsin.
Don’t panic the council will save us by cutting the cost of other things like parking and council tax…………. NOT
I do not see why the standing daily charges for elec has to go up so much – after all, this isn’t affected by the price of electricity. That is just the charge for maintaining the infrastructure.
rip off
The standing charge has gone up to pay for utilities companies that went bust. The cost is nothing to do with government, this is world wide issue at the moment,some countries won’t even have gas/electric regardless how much it costs. Government can’t keep giving hand outs,once pot of money gone then the UK is doomed. Taxes need to be raised and share holders should also be paying more tax. There is Billions of £s sitting in bank accounts doing nothing. Tax the privileged and rich and even out the wealth. Please look out for older and vulnerable. Families with children – there is alot of help.
no chance freddie ..I will be looking out for me only. I have no interest in paying for others.
shareholders shoud not be paying more tax- bear in mind that the vast majority of uk shares are held by institutions, that hold them on behalf of the uk pension funds. If they are made to pay more, then less is paid out to pensioners, when they cash in, which means more benefit claims
as for a pot of money – you do realise that all money is borrowed into existence and destroyed upon repayment – the entire worlds monetary system will soon be like japans – that is the model that is being followed by all – it is called japanification.
if the worlds banks didn’t dump so much cash into the system during covid, then there wouldn’t be so much cash chasing the same amount of goods and services – this is the primary cause of inflation – fuel increases are a sideshow to the main event.
No it’s just an excuse to get more money out of everybody, easiest solution is for there not to be an increase in the price cap and go over to purely pay for what you use, the more you do the more you should pay, some of us try to save by reducing usage but still pay over the odds
The question is when are the public going to stop moaning about it and actually do something about it?
well the island could do something at the next election. but alas i feel the tories could put mr blobby as there candidate and will still win.
To be fair I’d vote for Mr Blobby over the others, at least he has some degree of intelligence.
Why the panic inducing headline, it’s obviously not going to be the same for everyone and it will vary hugely with weather, usage etc.
Only a few years ago one room of a house was all that was heated.
People survived and will again.
It is the lower classes.who have become‘greedy’
The expect to work a few hours in an unskillful job have kids and expect’the government’ to fund them all
Yet all they have done is add more costly burdens to society
Look in the mirror for mostly who is at fault
Really? I work at full time job (not minimum wage) don’t smoke, don’t drink I live in a shared house. I pay all my own bills, don’t claim any benefits and still struggle to live. So how does that work??
Yes totally agree with you minimum wage is a joke these politicians need to try living on it
Hi you seem very angry and bitter,are you OK,maybe you should get your mental health checked.
She can’t help herself, she should be the next Tory leader and bring back the Victorian work houses. (old witch)
He,she,it is just a troll deliberately posting to annoy and upset.
“Lower Classes” – just who the hell do you think you are to describe anyone as lower class? I suggest you take a very long look in that mirror and you will see the fault is yours and your unacceptable Victorian attitude
The ones with a high tattoo to teeth ratio who stink of pot and vape and run away from a job like a cat does from a dog.
And who made the ‘lower classes’ greedy and no longer ‘lower class’ that wonderful Tory, Margaret Thatcher !!!
A few weeks ago ITV interviewed a single mum in the street who was struggling financially. Unfortunately many people noticed that she had 20 fags sticking out of her pocket and beautiful acrylic nails, but claimed she couldn’t afford to feed her toddler. Not helpful!
Most claiming to be SINGLE PARENTS rarely sleep alone and it isn’t their child sharing the bed.
This is going to hit those working for a living as they won’t be eligible for £1000s of spongers handouts like Augusts £326+£500 freebie BenefitsBonus. Some of us have to buy our own booze and fags. No help for our life choices!
Did you not see the writing on the wall and switch to a fixed 2 year tariff just before the prices increased. No? oh well, it wouldn’t do to help yourself a little would it, not when you can just moan and whinge and call everyone at fault.
Nothing to do with Government as Electricity wholesale prices have increased in the first quarter of 2022 by 411 per cent in Spain and Portugal, 343 per cent in Greece, 336 per cent in France and 318 per cent in Italy compared to the same period in 2021, according to the European Commission.
Therefore stop blaming other people,
the greens are to blame for the current mess -had they not made such a song and dance about nuclear years ago, then we would already have had more operational reactors in this country and would be largely insulated from these current issues.
we are now ten years behind on nuclear development in the uk – perhaps the tree huggers ought to be ignored in future.
They are partially to blame, they got rid of the gas storage facilities
Centrica permanently closed the Rough facility off the Yorkshire coast because it had become unsafe and uneconomic to reopen the facility, which had been temporarily shut over safety fears. What is that to do with the government.
AND WHY IS THAT THEN ?
Global warming ? Ukraine ? The Amazon rain forest ? Brexit ? No oil ? Over populations ?
Build more nuclear power stations NOW !
Should have done it years ago !
SHAME ON ALL WORLD LEADERS !
As far as the IOW is concerned you want cheap gas but you don’t want to dig for it, likewise oil. You want cheap electricity but you don’t want to see wind turbines. Apathy rules hence you are 20 years behind the mainland in terms of everything. Russia is the reason for the recent rise in energy simply because the do-gooders wanting relations with them. We should have built our own energy sources years ago but the Limp Dems and Greens stopped that because of constant whinging from them.
Not everyone will get the 400 as it goes to the person on the bill, some landlords will have say 4 electric meters in a property but the tenants sub let the electric or the landlord gets the bill for the main feed into property which the landlord then divides to 4 flats, so the landlord will get 400 for the main bill and the four flat dwellers get nowt
Well I certainly can’t afford that per month, and because I work what I earn takes me above the fresh hold of getting any help like so many other people. And yet there are those and we all know of some that know how to play the system and will get plenty of money to put towards either booze or drugs and still get help regardless for heating and probably eating
Totally agree with you
Forking out 15 – 20% of our wages just to heat and light the house. With a 2% rise to fund it with! That’s before we contend with the 10% + inflation.
Roughly £320 a month????????
All part of the WEF plan to crash the economy and bring in a social credit system.
Coming to everyone very soon.
Looks like that lizard man from Ryde was right after all ! ?
David is an intelligent man.
He warned us all years ago about what will happen.
Be the same whoever is in government , don’t expect any favours from Sir if he wins the next election. All Labour will do is increase taxes, maybe not PAYE but probably Vat and indirect taxes that will inevitably make the economy weaker. Don’t expect any politician to give you an easier life, it’s just all smoke and mirrors.