Fuel bank chief’s caution over energy price fall

The chief executive of a charity which supports people with their energy bills has welcomed the news that prices will fall from July – but said they were still very high.

Energy regulator Ofgem announced on Friday a typical gas and electricity bill would drop by 7%, its first fall in a year

But Matt Cole from the Fuel Bank Foundation said people were still paying £500 more per year than before the cost of living crisis, so people “wouldn’t feel any richer”.

Mr Cole, who lives in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, said the UK also still had the most expensive energy prices in Europe.

Tim Jarvis, director general of markets at Ofgem, said the drop in energy bills reflected a fall in the international price of wholesale gas.

Mr Cole said he suspected prices would go up again in the winter, as demand for fuel rises again across Europe.

He said he would like to see the energy price cap, which sets a maximum that suppliers can charge for each unit of energy, reviewed every six months, instead of the current three months, to give consumers more certainty.

His charity supports people struggling to pay their energy bills and he said they often said they were worried about future price rises.