Nearly half of Brits plan to scale back on energy usage over the colder winter months ahead of a planned hike to prices this week.
Under Ofgem’s energy price cap, bills are set to increase by 10% to £1,717 on an annual basis from Tuesday, meaning households will be left paying more per unit of power.
YouGov, on behalf of charity National Energy Action, found that 46% of British adults were planning to use less energy than they needed this winter ahead of the increase.
Roughly a quarter said they had struggled to pay bills last winter, with National Energy Action noting October’s increase would leave six million households in fuel poverty.
Though the energy price cap is set to be £117 cheaper than between October and December 2023, the rise follows two cuts to bills in 2024 and includes higher standing charges than last winter.
This means electricity and gas will cost 24.50p and 6.24p per kilowatt hour respectively for those on standard variable tariffs, against 22.36p and 5.48p currently.
Daily standing charges, which are paid regardless of usage, will sit at 60.99p for electricity and 31.66p for gas. These had been priced at 53p and 30p last October.
National Energy Action chief executive Adam Scorer warned millions of households faced “another dreadful winter” ahead of the hike and called for government support with bills.
“We find ourselves stuck in a predictable loop of increasing prices and inadequate support,” he added, highlighting a further rise in energy debt to £3.7 billion recently and the likes of cut winter fuel payments for pensioners.