LONDON, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- British household energy price cap will rise 4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2026, the country's energy regulator Ofgem said on Wednesday.
From Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, the price cap will rise by 60 pounds (about 82 U.S. dollars) per year to 1,723 pounds (about 2,343 dollars) for the average household using both electricity and gas, according to Ofgem.
The energy price cap protects around 22 million households on default tariffs by limiting the maximum rates and standing charges that energy suppliers can charge. It is updated every three months to reflect changes in the underlying costs of supplying energy.
The rise from October is pushing household bills to their highest per-unit level in three years, and the price cap will further rise in January next year, according to energy consultancy Cornwall Insight.
Mixed signals over the next stages of the Middle East conflict have seen gas prices spike over recent weeks, it said, adding that this combined with a summer heatwave across Europe, supply disruption in Norway and strong demand from Asia have led to low winter gas stock levels.
Rising bills in the first three months of winter, with forecasts of a further increase in January will put pressure on the government to lay out how it plans to support vulnerable households, both through this winter and further ahead, it noted.
