How much will my bills increase now the energy price cap comes into effect

Published

2 years ago

October 1, 2022

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Gas and electricity bills are going up as the new energy price cap takes effect.

You may have read that from 1 October the price cap will mean average energy bills will increase by 27% from £1,971 a year to £2,500.

But it isn’t as simple as that.

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What is happening?

The price of gas and electricity is determined by global wholesale prices, which shot up after supplies from Russia were cut as a response to the war in Ukraine – and after energy consumption increased again after COVID.

How much these wholesale energy prices are passed on to customers is controlled by the UK regulator Ofgem in the form of a price cap four times a year.

This price cap limits the cost households pay per unit of energy (kilowatt hours) they use.

Average annual bills had been touted to go up to £3,549 in line with wholesale prices, but Prime Minister Liz Truss’s “energy price guarantee” has reduced the original price cap announced on 26 August.

It means that from 1 October, instead of paying a maximum of 28p per kWh for electricity – people will now pay 34p.

And instead of paying a maximum of 7p per kWh for gas – they will now pay 10.3p.

Standing charges, which are the cost of connecting to the National Grid, are also going up with the price cap, but not by very much.

From now they will increase from 45p a day to 46p a day for electricity and 27p to 28p for gas.

Does the price cap cover everyone?

The price cap only covers domestic households in England, Wales and Scotland. The same level of support will be applied to the market in Northern Ireland.

Traditionally businesses are not covered by the price cap, but as part of a separate “energy bill relief” scheme, the government is providing additional support for firms.

You will be included in the price cap if you are a dual-fuel customer (use the same company for electricity and gas) on a standard variable tariff, who pays by direct debit, credit, or prepaid meter.

Standard variable tariffs mean your energy company can change the price per unit at any time – in line with global wholesale prices – but is limited by the price cap.

Fixed tariffs are agreed upon annually and mean the price per unit will not change for that year.

These are not included in the price cap, but the government says its energy price guarantee will mean a discount of 17p per kWh for electricity and 4.2p per kWh for gas.

They say this will bring fixed rates down to similar levels as the energy price cap.

If you are locked into an expensive fixed tariff, you can take a meter reading before 1 October to ensure your energy company honours the price guarantee discount.

Price cap does not mean energy only costs £2,500 a year

The government estimates that the new price cap will result in average annual energy bills increasing from £1,971 to £2,500.

But that does not mean people won’t be charged more than £2,500 a year for their energy – it is just an estimate for a typical household.

According to Ofgem, a typical household in Britain has 2.4 people living in it – who use 242 kWh of electricity and 1,000 kWh of gas a month.

But all households are different – and their energy usage will depend on how many people live there, what time of day they use the most energy, and how energy efficient their home is.

For example, the government estimates that if you live in a purpose-built flat your average bill will be £1,750.

If you live in a mid-terraced house it will be around £2,350.

Those who live in semi-detached houses will pay around £2,650 a year.

And detached properties will pay roughly £3,300 annually.

What extra help is the government offering?

Before Liz Truss was appointed prime minister, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced all households would receive a £400 discount on their energy bills between October 2022 and March 2023.

From 1 October people will start to receive a £66 discount for October, another for November, and £67 for December, January, February and March.

Some energy companies are directly applying these to bills, while others will credit the amount to customers’ bank accounts.

Eight million households in receipt of certain benefits will also get £650 to help with their bills.

Pensioners will receive £300 and some people on special disability benefits will get £150.

People on low incomes and pensioners on pension guarantee credit will get £140 off through the Warm Home Discount.

Vulnerable families can also apply for extra help via their local council and their Household Support Fund.

What about businesses?

The government’s energy bill relief scheme for England, Scotland and Wales will mean help with firms’ energy bills for six months from 1 October. A parallel scheme is operating in Northern Ireland.

Wholesale prices businesses pay for electricity will be capped at 21.1p per kWh for electricity and 7.5p per kWh for gas.

This will be applied automatically to companies using variable tariffs.

For those on fixed price contracts, the same discounts will be applied if the agreement started after 1 April 2022.

The savings will appear on bills in November and will be backdated to October.

A review will be published at the end of the year which will help identify “vulnerable” businesses that need support beyond March 2023.

Business

Marks & Spencer’s website and app go down

Published

4 hours ago

May 18, 2024

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Marks & Spencer's website and app go down

Marks & Spencer’s website and app has not been working for several hours, with a message telling shoppers “you can’t shop with us right now”.

“We’re working hard to be back online as soon as possible,” it adds.

All the menus and images have disappeared apart from one showing a model in a green jacket.

Customers trying to use the app got the message: “Sorry you can’t shop through the app right now. We’re busy making some planned changes, but will be back soon.”

The site is understood to have been down for several hours.

Replying to one customer on X, the retailer said: “We’re experiencing some technical issues but we are working on it.”

M&S is the latest high street name to have technical issues – last month some Sainsbury’s shoppers had problems with their online orders.

The outage comes a few days before M&S is expected to reveal a big jump in annual profits.

It’s been a successful year for the brand, with strong sales across the business following a turnaround plan that has included store closures and cost cutting.

Business

Employees at fintech giant Revolut to cash in with $500m share sale

Published

7 hours ago

May 18, 2024

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Employees at fintech giant Revolut to cash in with 0m share sale

Bosses at Revolut, Britain’s biggest fintech, are drawing up plans to allow employees to cash in with a sale of stock valued at hundreds of millions of pounds.

Sky News has learnt that the banking and payments services provider is lining up investment bankers to coordinate a secondary share sale worth in the region of $500m (£394m).

Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street bank, is expected to be engaged to work on the proposed stock offering, which will take place later this year.

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City sources said this weekend that Nik Storonsky, Revolut’s co-founder and chief executive, was determined to seek a valuation of at least the $33bn (£26bn) it secured in a primary funding round in 2021.

“This will not be a down-round,” said one person familiar with Revolut’s thinking.

Although the fintech, which has more than 40 million customers, is not planning to raise new capital as part of the transaction, any sizeable share sale will still be closely watched across the global fintech sector.

It is expected to be restricted to company employees.

Revolut ranks among the world’s largest financial technology businesses, with revenue virtually doubling last year to around £1.7bn, according to figures expected to be published in the coming months.

Founded in 2015, it has experienced a string of regulatory and compliance challenges, with reports last year highlighting its release of funds from accounts flagged by the National Crime Agency as suspicious.

The company’s growth has taken place at breakneck speed, with customer numbers soaring from 16.4m at the point of the Series E fundraising nearly three years ago.

Insiders argued that despite the protracted downturn in tech valuations over the last two years, Revolut’s relentless expansion would easily justify it maintaining its status as Britain’s most valuable fintech.

Monzo, the UK-based digital bank, recently confirmed a Sky News story that it had closed a funding round worth nearly £500m, including backing from an arm of Google’s owner, Alphabet, and a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund.

Elsewhere, however, the funding landscape has been bleaker, with a growing number of tech companies which had attracted unicorn valuations of more than $1bn now struggling to stay afloat.

Revolut has allotted stock options to many of its 10,000 employees as part of their compensation packages, although it was unclear how many would be eligible to dispose of equity in the transaction later this year.

A source close to the company said it had had numerous expressions of interest from prospective investors.

Revolut’s current shareholders include SoftBank’s Vision Fund and Tiger Global.

News of the proposed share sale comes as Revolut’s investors continue to await positive news about its application for a UK banking licence.

The company applied to regulators to become a bank in Britain more than three years ago, but has so far failed to secure approval.

Mr Storonsky has been publicly critical of the delay, and last year questioned the approach of British regulators and politicians, as he suggested that he would not contemplate a listing on the London Stock Exchange.

An initial public offering of Revolut appears to still be some way off, although it would not surprise investors or industry peers if it initiated a listing process in the next couple of years.

One person close to Revolut said board members were among those expected to participate in the secondary share sale, although further details were unclear this weekend.

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The company is chaired by Martin Gilbert, the City veteran who has faced governance and performance challenges at Assetco, the London-listed asset manager he runs.

Its other directors include Michael Sherwood, the former Goldman Sachs executive who was jointly responsible for its operations outside the US and who was regarded as one of the most skilled traders of his generation.

An external shareholder in the company said the exclusion of non-employees from the deal could draw criticism from some investors.

Revolut has conducted secondary share sales of this kind in the past, including after its 2021 Series E round.

This weekend, Revolut declined to comment.

Business

Ex-Post Office head of IT says Paula Vennells ‘hoped to avoid’ inquiry – and reveals she blocked her number

Published

2 days ago

May 16, 2024

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Ex-Post Office head of IT says Paula Vennells 'hoped to avoid' inquiry - and reveals she blocked her number

A former Post Office executive has said she was forced to block ex-boss Paula Vennells’ phone number after the ex-CEO called multiple times asking for help to avoid an independent inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.

Lesley Sewell, previously the company’s head of IT, told the Post Office inquiry on Thursday that former CEO Ms Vennells had reached out to her four times between 2020 and 2021.

Ms Sewell said that she blocked Ms Vennells’ number due to discomfort with the contact.

In her witness statement to the probe, Ms Sewell said that one of Ms Vennells’ emails referenced the need to fill in memory gaps regarding Horizon and “Project Sparrow”, a committee addressing issues with forensic accountants who identified flaws in the accounting system.

“Paula contacted me on four occasions in total. I recall blocking her number after the last call as I did not feel comfortable with her contacting me,” Ms Sewell said.

“I had not spoken to Paula since I had left POL [Post Office Limited] in 2015.”

According to Ms Sewell’s testimony, former chief executive Ms Vennells said that she had “been asked at short notice” to appear before a parliamentary select committee on “all things Horizon/Sparrow and need to plug some memory gaps”.

Ms Sewell says Ms Vennells added: “My hope is this might help avoid an independent inquiry but to do so, I need to be well prepared.”

Ms Sewell, who struggled to contain her emotions and broke down in tears while giving her oath at the start of her inquiry evidence, was offered support and breaks as needed by chairman Sir Wyn Williams.

Sir Wyn told the former executive: “Ms Sewell, I appreciate this may be upsetting for you, Ms Price will ask you a number of questions in a proper and sensible manner, but if at any time you feel you need a break, just let me know, all right?”

The Post Office has faced significant scrutiny following the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office which highlighted the Horizon IT scandal.

The faulty system led to the prosecution of more than 700 sub-postmasters between 1999 and 2015, with many still awaiting full compensation despite government announcements regarding payouts for those with quashed convictions.