The Guardian view on energy price rises: April is the cruellest month
It has been clear since at least last autumn that, come April, soaring global energy prices would crash at high speed into the ability of millions of British households to pay their heating bills. Acknowledging this as “the number one issue on people’s minds”, Rishi Sunak went to the Commons on Thursday and unveiled a raft of measures designed to limit the inevitable but still widely underestimated damage.
Conservative MPs praised the chancellor’s package. Opposition MPs condemned it as not going far enough. But the larger truth, two months before consumers start to experience the impact of Thursday’s dramatic rise in the energy price cap, is that, while the issue may be on people’s minds, the real human and political shock from these price rises will start in April.
When it comes, and despite the chancellor’s measures, that impact will be very great for very many. Mr Sunak described it in his evening press conference as drawing the sting – but stings can leave serious wounds. It may also last longer than the Treasury hopes. Even as things stand, the figures are eye-watering. Rocketing world prices in late 2021 will result in the biggest hit to the cost of living for the majority of British households in at least a quarter of a century.
On Thursday, the energy regulator, Ofgem, confirmed that the average bill will rise from £1,277 now to £1,971 after 1 April, a hike of 54%. Four-fifths of that is the result of the rise in wholesale prices, up by 104%. Britain’s dependence on gas, which heats 85% of our often poorly insulated homes, makes this country a sitting duck.
With national insurance rises also due to take effect at the same time, inflation moving steadily upwards again (the Bank of England raised interest rates while
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