The energy regulator Ofgem has announced that the typical annual household bill will have reduced to £2,074 from July to September. While the bill itself isn’t capped, the price paid per kilowatt hour is. This means that while the average household will be paying less, households that use more energy will pay more.

However, it isn’t all good news. Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) have highlighted a number of concerns following this announcement. Firstly, the number of UK households in fuel poverty will still be approximately 6.6 million, according to the research team for the charity. The also add that despite the news of the drop in average price, they are still almost double the level of October 2021 – an increase of 65% in that time.

Bills in July will be comparable to last winter as the Government has withdrawn support. From October 2022 to March 2023, the UK Government provided £67 a month for six months to subsidise energy bills. It means in real terms there is no reduction in bills.

NEA have added that many vulnerable households racked up £3 billion debt as bills spiralled and many have not been able to pay this off.  The cost-of-living payments, administered by DWP, are meant for vulnerable people to access support but over two million of those who need support are not eligible as they don’t receive means tested benefits.

National Energy Action’s chief executive Adam Scorer says: “Coming out of winter, most people will welcome any respite from record high prices, but it still leaves prices more than two-thirds higher than the start of the energy crisis and two million more households trapped in fuel poverty. More than two and half million low income and vulnerable households are no longer receiving any government support for unaffordable bills. For them, the energy crisis is far from over.”

National Energy Action have created a resource to provide help to those who are struggling to deal with the cost of energy prices, which can be found here.