Today the energy bill price cap changes. It will drop by 7% this summer, making the typical bill £1,568 a year.

The upcoming General Election provides a vital opportunity for policymakers to address the fuel poverty crisis and ensure vulnerable people are warm, safe and healthy at home. NEA NI is calling on all Northern Ireland candidates and parties to commit to 3 key actions at Westminster to tackle fuel poverty in Northern Ireland.

Today (Friday 24 May), the energy regulator Ofgem announced that the level of the price cap from July to September will fall by £122 to £1,568 per year for a typical household.

National Energy Action (NEA) has been involved in policy work to maintain and reform the Default Tariff price cap for several years. This has included working with Ofgem to initially create the Safeguard Tariff cap for prepayment and other vulnerable customers. Subsequently, NEA helped to design the Default Tariff price cap to ensure it offers as much protection for low-income and vulnerable customers as possible.

Research conducted by Public First explored public attitudes on the impact of the price cap. More than half of surveyed households believe that the price cap is the only thing stopping energy suppliers from charging more, that it protects vulnerable and low-income households and that the price cap means that consumers are not charged unfair prices.

National Energy Action welcomes the opportunity to input into this process and calls on Ofgem to consider solutions it has the power to create, in addition to working with the UK Government to create enduring solutions to debt and affordability challenges.

New analysis by fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) reveals Stoke-on-Trent has the greatest proportion of households living in fuel poverty at 24.7%, replacing Birmingham in the top spot.

Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action says that despite the price cap falling £238 a year for typical households from April, 2.3 million households are on average paying more than at the height of the crisis because of energy debt.

Ofgem has opened a Call for Input on the subject, which will close on 13 May 2024. This briefing highlights National Energy Action’s emerging views on what Ofgem and government can do to tackle affordability and still-rising debt levels.