FAMILIES 'should not be fooled' by the energy price cap - many will still struggle to pay their bills and keep warm this winter, says an energy expert.
New Prime Minister Liz Truss outlined her plans to tackle the soaring energy bills faced by households and businesses with a two-year price cap on Thursday.
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However, Worcester energy expert Philip Fowler, while welcoming the price freeze, says city families are already struggling with the rising cost of living as it is.
We have already reported how Worcester Community Trust is drawing up plans to use its facilities, including some of its six hubs in the city in Dines Green, Tolladine, Ronkswood, Warndon and Brickfields, as “warm hubs” this winter in response to the huge hike in the price of gas and electric.
Despite the cap, energy prices have still doubled in two years and people will still struggle to heat their homes, said charity leader Jon Newey who is overseeing plans for the hubs.
These ‘warm hubs’ would provide a comfortable and heated space for people to grab a hot drink, charge their phones and log onto the Wi-Fi, and would run alongside the trust’s existing community fridges and breakfast clubs.
The aim of Government action, announced this week, has been to limit the 80 per cent rise in domestic bills which would have kicked in next month.
Consumers will still pay for the gas and electricity they use but the government's Energy Price Guarantee will limit the price that suppliers can charge for each unit of energy.
For a typical household using 12,000 kWh (kilowatt hours) of gas a year and 2,900 kWh of electricity a year - an annual bill will not rise above £2,500 from October.
Without this intervention, that annual bill would have been £3,549 a year while last winter it was £1,277 a year.
Energy expert Philip Fowler, of Fort Royal, Worcester said: "While the price cap has been frozen from October, it's still going up. The key thing is don't be fooled - prices have still gone up by 20 per cent. What the Government has done is frozen the unit rate and the standing charge.
"People were struggling anyway to pay the current unit rate and standing charge. There are still going to be households struggling to pay their energy bills even though prices have been frozen."
The 52-year-old entrepreneur said he was speaking in his capacity as an energy expert rather than in his role as vice-chairman of the trustees of homeless charity St Paul's Hostel or as a trustee of Worcester Community Trust.
He said it needed to be emphasised to customers that 'the more you use, the more it costs you.'
Mr Fowler added: "It's great news in respect of the cap being frozen - none of us are going to get that 80 per cent rise. The downside is we're still going to be paying more. It doesn't protect us from record-high energy prices. There's no mention of helping people reduce their consumption."
Jon Newey, chief executive of Worcester Community Trust, said: “Anything that stops people’s energy bills spiralling further out of control is welcome but the reality is household energy bills are still twice as much as they were two years ago, and people are still going to struggle to heat their homes this winter."
The government will be paying for this energy gap by borrowing money.
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