Energy bills: Fuel cost hike puts pressure on families amid unprecedented £700 rise
Householders say they sometimes don’t eat to save money as people face cost-of-living crisis
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Your support makes all the difference.Families have described how they are struggling to cover their food and energy costs as annual energy bills rise by around £700.
One site manager told The Independent how he couldn’t afford to socialise any more, and a hairdressing business owner said he could not always afford meals, saying: “Sometimes I eat, sometimes I don’t”.
The £693-a-year rise in a typical energy bill will affect 18 million households, and 4.5 million customers on prepaid meters will face an increase of £708 a year.
The rising prices will double the number of households in “fuel stress” – a term for those spending 10 per cent or more of their income after housing costs on energy bills – overnight from 2.5 to 5 million in England alone, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank.
Protesters from the climate group Just Stop Oil blocked “10 critical oil terminals” across the UK this morning, as the biggest rise in British energy bills takes effect.
See below for how our live coverage unfolded.
Families face an extra £60 a year on their bills to fix Britain’s leaky sewers - reports
Households will have to pay an extra £60 a year on top of their water bills to pay to fix Britain’s ageing sewers, The Daily Mail has reported.
Ordinary families will have to take on the extra burden despite water companies making hundreds of millions of pounds in profit.
United Utilities made £602 million in operating profits last year, with its chief executive Steve Mogford earning £2.94 million in the financial year 2020/21, the paper reported.
Thames Water made £488 million in profits last year.
Water companies also dumped sewage more than 370,000 times into rivers last year.
Environment secretary George Eustice said yesterday that sewage dumping into rivers and streams would be reduced by 80 per cent by 2050.
He said: “Today, we are setting specific targets to ensure that those storm overflows are used only in exceptional circumstances - delivering on our Environment Act and building on wider work on water quality.”
Families could face an extra £800 energy bill rise in October, former NPower boss warns
Energy bills could rise by as much as £800 when the price cap is reset in October, the former boss of energy company NPower has warned.
Speaking to LBC, Paul Massara said: “The reality is that the price cap has protected people through the winter period, but now it has come back and it’s biting.
“A £700 to £2,000 rise is incredibly large and for those people most in need, those people most vulnerable, who are trying to budget day by day essentially, this is going to be a massive shock.”
He added: “And what’s worse is that the forward look seems to be that in October when the cap is reset again we could be anywhere between another £400 to £800,”
Price of eggs must rise by 40p or firms face collapse, producers say
Hundreds of egg producers are facing soaring fuel price rises and are struggling under new requirements for hens to be kept indoors due to a bird flu outbreak.
Beleaguered firms are calling on big retailers to increase the price of a dozen eggs by 40p to stop smaller producers from closing shop, The Guardian has reported.
Andrew Jorêt, chair of the British Egg Industry Council, told the paper: “The tidal wave of cost increases will see many family farms, some of which have been producing eggs for generations, going under in a matter of days, unless something is done quickly.”
Government minister admits his central heating is run on oil
Home office minister Kit Malthouse has said his household is facing a “tricky” time during the cost of living crisis, with his home central heating running on oil, Political correspondent Ashley Cowburn writes.
Kit Malthouse, who conducted broadcast interviews with a fire on in the background, told LBC: “Obviously the day-to-day is quite tricky. “As you know, I’ve got children. They need to be fed and that cost is rising.
“My fuel prices are rising quite significantly, and I have to say that in my constituency I’m on oil central heating still, sadly.”
The Conservative MP for North West Hampshire continued: “Oil, I’m afraid to tell you, doesn’t come under the energy price cap, and lots of people in rural areas are suffering from the oil price rise.
“So we are feeling it very significantly. I have to confess to you, we did convert last year to electric vehicles, so we are feeling the electric price but not through the petrol. So it is a challenge for everybody.”
Crime and policing minister Mr Malthouse said that he had attempted to log onto his energy app on Thursday night as millions looked to log meter readings before the energy cap price rise came into effect, and it “wasn’t working either”.
Just Stop Oil: Protesters block 10 oil terminals and force Exxon Mobil UK to suspend operations
Protesters from climate group Just Stop Oil blocked “10 critical oil terminals” across the UK on Friday morning forcing Exxon Mobil, one of the country’s largest privately owned underground oil pipeline distribution networks, to temporarily suspend operations at some of its sites.
The oil giant confirmed that “small protests” were underway at their Hythe, Birmingham and West London fuel terminals, writes Tom Batchelor.
Read the full story here:
Protesters block oil terminals forcing Exxon Mobil to stop operations
Activists sit on roads preventing tankers from leaving sites
Almost two-thirds of firms set to raise prices in next three months - the highest proportion since 1989
Almost two thirds of UK businesses are preparing to hike their prices in the next three months, according to a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce.
The number of companies planning price rises is the highest since the 1980s, when the survey began.
The survey of more than 5,600 firms found that the majority have reported no change in investment spending, with 27 percent reporting an increase and 15 percent a decline.
Businesses cited the rising cost of raw materials, and the increased energy and transport costs, as the drivers for their price hikes.
A third of firms also said that the cost of labour was influencing the decision to increase prices, The Guardian reported.
Explainer: When do gas and electric prices go up and why?
From 1 April, the cap will rise from £1,277 to £1,971 for a household on average usage. That means a £693 per year increase for the average customer, writes Joe Sommerlad.
Prepayment meter customers will see an even greater increase of £708 from £1,309 to £2,017.
Read the full details here:
When do gas and electric prices go up and why? The energy price rise explained
How much have gas and electricity prices gone up?
In pictures: Protesters seemingly chain themselves together as they protest oil companies
Climate protesters have blocked “10 critical oil terminals” across the UK this morning, climbing on top of fuel tankers and perching on make-shift wooden teepee structures.
Some activists seemingly chained themselves together outside fuel terminals in West London, Hythe and Southampton.
Activists from Just Stop Oil, along with members of Extinction rebellion, targeted the oil companies. In a statement, Just Stop Oil said they were “demanding an end to the government’s genocidal policy of expanding UK oil and gas production and is calling on all those outraged at the prospect of climate collapse and suffering from the cost of living crisis to stand with us.
“Ordinary people can no longer afford oil and gas, it’s time to Just Stop Oil.”
See a selection of photos from the scenes across the UK here:
‘How can we survive?’: Cafe owners let staff go as cost of living crisis bites
“How can we survive?”, Yousef, 41 and Lyes, 45 owners of Lucid coffees and cake in east London, told Thomas Kingsley.
Considering the impacts of the cost of living crisis, they said the “damage has been done, it’s too late for the government to help now”.
“One cylinder of gas used to be £35 now I get it for £40. The chicken I used to get for £35 is now £50. It does hit everyone. I’ve been here 3 years and you feel for the people. People want something not expensive but it’s hard for us to keep that,” they said.
“We can’t keep losing money. Less customers are coming and inflation has hit everyone. How can we survive? Electricity is a madness right now.”
They continued: “It’s a chaos. I try my best to keep our products as affordable as possible because people are struggling.
“But my conclusion is things are getting worse.”
“You need a calculator in your pocket, people are considering every penny.”
They reflected: “To fix this situation will take time. It’s impossible to fix a broken glass. The damage is done.
“Businesses like us can only hope on volumes of people coming in but already last week we were 50 per cent down. We have days when we don’t know what we’re doing here.
“We had two people working for us, we had to let one go. We feel so bad.”
Prime minister would ‘probably’ reveal if he receives a Partygate fine, minister says
Minister Kit Malthouse has said that Boris Johnson is likely to tell the public if he is issued with a fine as part of the Met Police’s probe into Partygate.
Mr Malthouse, a close ally of Boris Johnson who has worked with him since his time as Mayor of London, told LBC that “if I got a Fixed Penalty Notice, I would tell you.”
Asked if Mr Johnson was likely to confirm if he had received a fine, Mr Malthouse said: “It is a hypothetical question, but I think if he did, he probably would, yes.”
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