Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said he would cut bills by £300
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said energy bills would fall (Image: Getty)
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband stands accused of breaking his promise to cut energy bills as it was announced today that they will rise again. Regulator Ofgem has increased the energy price cap by 0.2% for the period covering January to March 2026. It means for an average household paying by Direct Debit for gas and electricity, the overall bill will be £1,758 per year. This is up from £1,690 in June 2024, when Labour gained power.
But Mr Miliband has vowed to to cut energy bills by £300 by 2030 – and today’s announcement shows prices are going in the wrong direction. Claire Coutinho, Shadow Energy Secretary, said: “Ed Miliband promised to cut everyone’s energy bills by £300 but more and more experts are sounding the alarm that his plans will lock us into paying higher bills for decades. Despite gas prices falling, independent experts, energy suppliers, and academics say it’s the extra costs of Ed’s Net Zero targets that are putting upward pressure on bills.”at all costs.”
Ms Coutinho added: “This week we had a report that green levies on bills will soar by another £260 by 2030. We simply cannot afford this – cheap energy has to come first.
“Our Cheap Power Plan would cut everyone’s electricity bills by 20 per cent in time for winter. Ed Miliband could adopt it tomorrow if he really cared about cutting bills.”
Minister for Energy Consumers Martin McCluskey said: “We know that energy bills remain too high. That is why we are taking immediate action, with millions more families receiving £150 off their bills through the expanded Warm Home Discount scheme this winter.
“We are taking the long-term action needed to bring down bills for good with the government’s clean power mission. We are also delivering our new golden age of nuclear, with cheaper, clean electricity to power millions of homes, kick-start economic growth and create thousands of jobs.”
Consumer website Go.Compare said the increase would worry householders.
Gareth Kloet, expert at Go.Compare Energy, said: “We typically see the energy price cap rise in the winter months, so it won’t be a shock to consumers that a price rise has been announced this morning. But as we head into the colder and darker months of winter, and Brits turn to put their heating on, energy usage increases, so this will bring some worry to billpayers.”
Sam Richards, CEO of pro-growth campaign group Britain Remade, said: “While a £3 increase in the Energy Price Cap may not sound like much, the cost of living remains a major concern for millions of households across the country who have endured eye-watering energy bills for far too long.
“Reforming Britain’s outdated planning system is key to speeding up the time it takes to build the onshore and offshore wind farms, large-scale solar, and new nuclear plants our country desperately needs. Cutting red tape will get spades in the ground faster and make clean energy cheaper.
“But the Government risks making renewables more expensive by cramming as many projects as possible into the next renewable energy auction in order to hit its pledge of a clean grid by 2030
