London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, May 31, 2025

Energy customers faced unprecedented bills in 2022

Energy customers faced unprecedented bills in 2022

The Government was forced to intervene to protect people from serious economic harm as energy prices soared.
The crisis that defined 2022 for many Britons started a few days early for utilities expert Martin Young, as he stared at his computer screen at a new figure that had popped up.

Plugging gas and electricity prices into a formula he had designed in December 2021, Mr Young saw before almost anyone else that the average energy bill would reach a massive new record in the new year.

“I pulled it all together, pushed the magic button and the magic button came out with a number which was about £1,950,” he told the PA news agency.

The analyst, who works for Investec, thought “wow”.

“I thought that’s such a big jump that I better check it. And I had indeed made a little mistake, which I corrected and my number jumped up to £1,995.”

Six minutes after Mr Young put out a note, he was already being contacted by reporters as they saw the first predictions of £2,000 energy bills.

Months later the bills would almost seem quaint. By August this year some were predicting energy bills of up to £7,700 for the average household.

They were figures which forced the Government to intervene in the UK’s energy system in a way not seen for decades.

It was a year when war closed off pipelines and even blew some of them up, warnings of the first planned blackouts in decades emerged, and the Government promised to pay more than 30p every time someone turned on their oven for around half an hour.

It was already clear when Mr Young made his calculations last December that things were going to be difficult on energy markets, but just how difficult was hard to fathom until Russian tanks rolled towards Kyiv in February.

The war took an already volatile energy market and squeezed it – sending European gas prices to the highest they have ever been – at least as long as records exist.

It was Vladimir Putin’s gamble that the gas that he sent to Europe could be just as important a weapon in his plans to overrun Ukraine as the tanks he sent to Ukraine.

But it was a miscalculation. The tanks inflicted pain on Ukraine, but could not break it, and the same proved true for the gas coming to Europe.

Putin’s resource war – and his actual war – were certainly painful for Britons. By May the Government here was forced to promise to pay £400 towards the bills of every household in the country, plus extra for the more vulnerable.

But at that point, the forecasts that Mr Young and others were producing showed that bills could reach £2,800 by the autumn.

“I was saying that it just wasn’t enough (support). That if you went to £2,800 that was going to be devastating for British households.”

And as the months dragged on it became clear this would not be anywhere near enough to protect people from freezing in their homes this winter.

To the chagrin of campaigners it took until Britain had a new prime minister in September for an announcement of extra support.

The Government then took the extraordinary measure of accepting a potentially limitless bill for helping households to buy energy.

Under the new system, households would only pay 34p per unit of electricity and 10.3p per unit of gas to run their homes. The Government would pay the rest – no matter how much that ended up being.

After Liz Truss was forced out, the Government said it would slash this support package from two years to six months, and replace it with something less generous afterwards.

The Government has been left with the headache of how to pay for this huge scheme – the full price of which will not be clear for some time to come.

It has turned to some of the biggest energy companies to help raise some of the billions that it will need for the time ahead. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt hopes that he can raise £40 billion through the new windfall tax on the energy companies making record profits.

Globally the energy crisis sparked calls for an increased acceleration of the roll-out of renewable energy, which has been forced to pick up some of the slack caused by the limited availability of gas.

However in an attempt to find alternative energy sources, old coal and nuclear were fired up again, or saw their lives extended.

According to recent figures from the International Energy Agency coal use was set to rise 1.2% in 2022, breaching an all-time record set in 2013.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Satirical Sketch Sparks Political Spouse Feud in South Korea
Indonesia Quarry Collapse Leaves Multiple Dead and Missing
South Korean Election Video Pulled Amid Misogyny Outcry
Asian Economies Shift Away from US Dollar Amid Trade Tensions
Netflix Investigates Allegations of On-Set Mistreatment in K-Drama Production
US Defence Chief Reaffirms Strong Ties with Singapore Amid Regional Tensions
Vietnam Faces Strategic Dilemma Over China's Mekong River Projects
Malaysia's First AI Preacher Sparks Debate on Islamic Principles
White House Press Secretary Criticizes Harvard Funding, Advocates for Vocational Training
France to Implement Nationwide Smoking Ban in Outdoor Spaces Frequented by Children
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
Russia's Fossil Fuel Revenues Approach €900 Billion Since Ukraine Invasion
U.S. Justice Department Reduces American Bar Association's Role in Judicial Nominations
U.S. Department of Energy Unveils 'Doudna' Supercomputer to Advance AI Research
U.S. SEC Dismisses Lawsuit Against Binance Amid Regulatory Shift
Alcohol Industry Faces Increased Scrutiny Amid Health Concerns
Italy Faces Population Decline Amid Youth Emigration
U.S. Goods Imports Plunge Nearly 20% Amid Tariff Disruptions
OpenAI Faces Competition from Cheaper AI Rivals
Foreign Tax Provision in U.S. Budget Bill Alarms Investors
Trump Accuses China of Violating Trade Agreement
Gerry Adams Wins Libel Case Against BBC
Russia Accuses Serbia of Supplying Arms to Ukraine
EU Central Bank Pushes to Replace US Dollar with Euro as World’s Main Currency
Chinese Woman Dies After Being Forced to Visit Bank Despite Critical Illness
President Trump Grants Full Pardons to Reality TV Stars Todd and Julie Chrisley
Texas Enacts App Store Accountability Act Mandating Age Verification
U.S. Health Secretary Ends Select COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations
Vatican Calls for Sustainable Tourism in 2025 Message
Trump Warns Putin Is 'Playing with Fire' Amid Escalating Ukraine Conflict
India and Pakistan Engage Trump-Linked Lobbyists to Influence U.S. Policy
U.S. Halts New Student Visa Interviews Amid Enhanced Security Measures
Trump Administration Cancels $100 Million in Federal Contracts with Harvard
SpaceX Starship Test Flight Ends in Failure, Mars Mission Timeline Uncertain
King Charles Affirms Canadian Sovereignty Amid U.S. Statehood Pressure
Trump Threatens 25% Tariff on iPhones Amid Dispute with Apple CEO
Putin's Helicopter Reportedly Targeted by Ukrainian Drones
Liverpool Car Ramming Incident Leaves Multiple Injured
Australia Faces Immigration Debate Following Labor Party Victory
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Founder Warns Against Trusting Regime in Nuclear Talks
Macron Dismisses Viral Video of Wife's Gesture as Playful Banter
Cleveland Clinic Study Questions Effectiveness of Recent Flu Vaccine
Netanyahu Accuses Starmer of Siding with Hamas
Junior Doctors Threaten Strike Over 4% Pay Offer
Labour MPs Urge Chancellor to Tax Wealthy Over Cutting Welfare
Publication of UK Child Poverty Strategy Delayed Until Autumn
France Detains UK Fishing Vessel Amid Post-Brexit Tensions
Calls Grow to Resume Syrian Asylum Claims in UK
Nigel Farage Pledges to Reinstate Winter Fuel Payments
Boris and Carrie Johnson Welcome Daughter Poppy
×