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A typical household’s annual energy bills are expected to rise by £73 in January, new forecasts suggest.
Consultancy Cornwall Insight expects bills to rise to £1,996 under the official price cap set by the UK energy regulator Ofgem.
An energy price cap limits the amount suppliers can charge households for each unit of energy they use.
Analysts in Cornwall said the January rise would be largely due to increases in wholesale energy prices.
The rise comes as millions expect to see their energy bills fall from October 1, when the next price cap comes into effect.
From October, the typical dual-fuel household will pay £1,923 a year until December, down from £2,074 in the previous three-month period. However, some government support, which helped with the bills, has been withdrawn last winter.
January rise ‘not unexpected’
In its latest forecast for January, Cornwall said it expected bills to approach £2,000 again.
Dr Craig Lowry, a senior consultant at the group, said that while it was disappointing to see the trend in falling energy bills over the past year “stopping”, it was “not at all unexpected”.
“Although the rise is small, it shows that we cannot assume that prices will continue to decline and eventually reach pre-pandemic levels,” he said.
“Policies must be put in place to deal with the potential situation that high energy prices become the new normal.”
Last winter, the government protected all households in England, Wales and Scotland from much higher bills with a £400 rebate, but that scheme has now ended.
However, some groups that may struggle to pay bills will receive additional assistance through cost-of-living payments.