Families will encounter a cost of living double whammy with an energy cap increase adding hundreds of pounds to bills alongside a new hike in interest rates.
Energy regulator Ofgem is bringing forward what’s expected to be a crippling rise in gas bills for millions of households from Monday to Thursday.
The new level will come into force in April, and the latest prediction is that it will be about £1,900 for an average household for at least six months, with possible additional increases thereafter.
And it would be a 49 per cent rise from the current price cap, which was already on a record high when it was fixed at £1,277 in October.
About 22 million households are presently believed to be on an energy deal that is linked to the price cap.
Many of these households will probably be put under major economic distress because of the price spike, which has been caused by a manifold increase in global gas prices.
Additionally, the Bank of England is widely expected to boost interest rates again on Thursday and more hikes are firmly on the cards as policymakers fight to cool zooming inflation.
Members of the nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) are set to increase rates from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent as the Bank’s quarterly set of forecasts is likely to show eye-watering inflation this spring.
It would mark the Bank’s first back to back increase since June 2004, coming after it lifted rates from 0.1 per cent to 0.25 per cent in December to try to rein in unbridled inflation.
It comes as Boris Johnson prepares to announce energy bill rebates worth billions of pounds to lessen the impact of soaring fuel prices, and he encountered accusations of hitting employees in the pocket at Prime Minister’s Questions today, with Labour accusing him of plotting stealth taxes with a National Insurance increase.
Opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that one of the most outrageous claims made on behalf of Operation Save Big Dog is the Prime Minister and Chancellor writing in the Sunday Times that they’re the tax-cutting Conservatives.
So, if this is the case who do these alleged tax-cutters keep increasing taxes on working people?
Energy price rises are expected to come alongside an overall spike in the cost of living across the United Kingdom.
Current figures from the Office of National Statistics reveal that inflation reached 5.4 per cent in the year to December.
If this scheme is the best the Tories can come up with, then we’re all doomed, and those who work but aren’t on earnings above benefit claiming level are going to be the worst hit, along with single households with a single income.
And for those who work or are pensioners on a basic pension with perhaps a tiny works pension, well, they will always suffer while our government keep thousands of migrants in the lap of luxury – all things paid for, and I have no idea how the elderly, disabled and impoverished of this country are going to cope with this inflation of prices, and Boris Johnson couldn’t care less because he’s only interested in his own pleasures.
Boris Johnson promised Brexit would mean cheaper energy. He also promised secure borders, and this has ended extremely badly for him, but they all tell people what they want to hear and they just believe it, but if a person is told enough times that it’s so, in the end, they will believe it, whether it’s true or not because as humans we can only see as far as the end of our nose.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 