Energy payments to drop dramatically in April attributable to Budget – what it means for you
Energy bills are set to fall by 7% when the cap is next updated in April due to new measures announced in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget
Ministers announced the measures(Image: Getty)
There’s finally some energy relief on the way as the UK Government promises to lower household bills.
Energy bills are set to fall by 7% when the cap is next updated in April thanks to new measures announced in the recent budget, according to experts. Cornwall Insight has predicted that there will be a slight relief to the cost of living crisis as they believe Ofgem will reduce the energy price cap by £117 to £1,641 a year for a typical dual fuel household from April 1.
This is slightly lower than its previous prediction for an 8%, or £138, reduction. Ofgem will announce its next price cap level by February 25 for the three months from April 1 to June 30.
At the end of last year Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that £150 would be cut from the average household bill from April by scrapping the Energy Company Obligation (Eco) scheme introduced by the Tories in government.
But Cornwall Insight said the changes would reduce the cap by about £145 a year once VAT and pricing allowances within the cap methodology are taken into account. The experts added that increases in charges associated with the operation and maintenance of Britain’s energy networks have “offset part of these savings.”
Wholesale prices have risen slightly since its last forecast in December, with the cost of gas particularly volatile due to “geopolitical factors”, according to the experts from Cornwall Insight.
However, experts said that wholesale costs are still lower than when Ofgem set the January cap level. They added that they expect the cap to remain “relatively steady” throughout 2026, “with only a small rise forecast in July”.
Craig Lowrey, principal consultant at Cornwall Insight, said: “Any reduction in bills is positive, easing pressure at a time when affordability really matters. It’s the drop in policy costs, as a result of Government interventions, that is doing most of the heavy lifting and, while wholesale costs have come back into the headlines in recent weeks, the impact on April’s bills is minimal. The real test will be keeping those savings going.”
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