‘Catastrophic winter’ ahead for households as bills soar, energy boss warns

The head of EDF has pleaded for emergency help from the government for customers

Philippe Commaret warned that half of UK households could be in fuel poverty by January (PA)

Households face a “dramatic and catastrophic winter”, a senior energy firm executive has warned ahead of the increase in the price cap on fuel bills. EDF managing director Philippe Commaret warned that half of UK households could be in fuel poverty by January as a result of rocketing energy prices.

His comments came as National Grid prepared to hold an exercise to test the resilience of the UK’s systems in the event of a gas supply emergency.

In January, half of the UK households might be in fuel poverty. That’s the reason why we want to take actions in order to do everything we can do in order to help our customers

Philippe Commaret, EDF

Consumers will find out on Friday how much the energy price cap will rise by, with analysts expecting average annual bills to increase to more than £3,500.

Mr Commaret said EDF is launching a campaign to help customers cut bills with energy-saving measures, but that the scale of the problem means further government intervention is needed.

“We face, despite the support that the government has already announced, a dramatic and catastrophic winter for our customers,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“In fact, in January half of the UK households might be in fuel poverty. That’s the reason why we want to take actions in order to do everything we can do in order to help our customers.

“So, we are announcing today that we are going to launch a campaign in order to reach hundreds of thousands of our customers to provide them further support to help them cut their costs, but also make sure that they are accessing all the available support that is available for them.”

Industry consultants have warned that households will face an 80 per cent rise in bills going into the winter (PA)

Regulator Ofgem will announce the new price cap on Friday, with energy industry consultants Cornwall Insight warning that households will face an 80 per cent rise in bills going into the winter period.

Energy prices are tipped to hit £3,554 from October, then rise to £4,650 from January.

So between October and April – which includes the coldest months of the year – the bill for the average household will be at a rate equivalent to £4,102 per year for gas and electricity.

It would be a massive jump from today’s £1,971, which is already a record, being much higher than the £1,138 average last winter.

No immediate extra help will be announced by Boris Johnson’s government, with major financial decisions being postponed until either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak is installed in No 10 following the Tory leadership contest.

I think that all ideas, in order to keep the bills for customers flat, are really important and have all to be considered. There is not only one lever to be pulled, but all levers have to be pulled right now, because we face a catastrophic winter

Philippe Commaret, EDF

Mr Sunak has pledged to remove VAT from energy bills, while Ms Truss has promised to cut green levies.

Mr Commaret said: “I think that all ideas, in order to keep the bills for customers flat, are really important and have all to be considered. There is not only one lever to be pulled, but all levers have to be pulled right now, because we face a catastrophic winter.”

The war in Ukraine and the economic isolation of gas-producing Russia, combined with surging energy demand following the easing of coronavirus restrictions around the world, have driven up prices and caused uncertainty in the international energy supply chain.

Downing Street has insisted there is no need for consumers to panic, and that “households, businesses and industry can be confident they will get the electricity and gas that they need over the winter”.

Meanwhile, a regular emergency planning exercise to help the UK prepare for the possibility of a shortage of gas has been doubled in size, the BBC reported.

National Grid’s planning exercise, called “Exercise Degree”, will examine whether firms can respond appropriately to a gas supply shortage, which could also have implications for the electricity network.

The exercise will take place in two stages, on 13-14 September and 4-5 October. Last year’s version of the event took place over two days.

But the timetable for the event was set out in January, ahead of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and is not related to the current energy market turbulence.

A National Grid spokesperson said: “Exercise Degree is the latest in a long series of annual exercises which go back to 1996 when the network emergency coordinator role was created.

“The exercises enable National Grid gas, government and industry participants to test the effectiveness of industry-wide emergency arrangements in order to prevent, and (if unavoidable) respond to a gas supply emergency.

“The network emergency coordinator has an obligation to provide assurance to the HSE [Health and Safety Executive] on the effectiveness of these arrangements. The pre-winter exercises take place every year ahead of winter and have become a routine part of the energy industry’s annual calendar.

“The arrangements for Exercise Degree were made back in January 2022.”