London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Cost of living: Energy price cap expected to rise by £830 to £2,800 in October, says Ofgem chief

Cost of living: Energy price cap expected to rise by £830 to £2,800 in October, says Ofgem chief

Any increase will add to the stresses Britons are already feeling from the cost of living crisis - it would also increase pressure on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to do more to help.

The UK's energy price cap is expected to rise in October to around £2,800, Ofgem's chief executive says.

The current price cap, which applies until 31 September, is £1,971 a year - and that amount was a £693 rise (54%) from the previous cap six months earlier.

Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley told the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee that in October it will be "in the region of £2,800".

The Resolution Foundation said that the increase could mean 9.6 million households in England are in "fuel stress" this winter. Fuel stress is where at least 10% of a household's total expenditure is spent on energy bills.
Advertisement

Earlier, Mr Brearley had said: "I'm afraid to say conditions have worsened in the global gas market, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Gas prices are higher and highly volatile.

"At times they have now reached over 10 times their normal level.

"I know this is a very distressing time for customers, but I do need to be clear with this committee, with customers, and with the government about the likely price implications for October.

"Therefore, later today, I'll be writing to the chancellor to give him our latest estimate of the price cap uplift.

"This is uncertain, we're only part-way through the price cap window, but we're expecting a price cap in October in the region of £2,800."

He added: "Our future scenarios when we look beyond that, we're really managing between two extreme versions of events: one where the price falls back down to where it was before - for example if we did see peace in Ukraine - and one where prices could go even further if we were to see, for example, a disruptive interruption of gas from Russia."


Mr Brearley described the current situation as "genuinely a once-in-a-generation event not seen since the oil crisis of the 1970s" - but this will be little comfort to people in the UK already dealing with rises in food, fuel, and taxes.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves wrote on Twitter: "This will cause enormous worry for families already facing soaring bills.

"How many more alarm bells do the Conservatives need before they act?

"We need an emergency budget now, with a windfall tax on oil and gas producer profits to lower bills."

More intervention likely on the way


Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was speaking at the same hearing as Mr Brearley when he said later: "The chancellor is committed to more support, more help, before the price cap kicks in.

"So I'm very confident that there will be more intervention."

All the major energy suppliers saw their shares fall, as the prospect of more strain on customers makes a windfall tax more likely - Centrica (owners of British Gas) was down 9%, Scottish Power owner Iberdrola was down 1.6%, E.ON lost 2.3%, SSE fell 6.7%, and EDF lost 2.5%.

Earlier this month, the energy regulator said the price cap - the mechanism that sets a limit on the amount suppliers can charge for gas and electricity and on the daily standing charge - could soon be reviewed every three months, instead of every six months.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×