Recommendation 24

At the time of our evidence session, household bills were protected by the EPG cap at £2,500 until the end of March 2023, which will increase to £3,000 from April 2023 to March 2024.57 HM Treasury told the NAO that it did not have plans to extend the EBSS beyond April 2023. The combined impact of these changes mean that a typical household bill may increase by at least £400 in 2023–24 if wholesale energy prices remain around current levels. At the time of the NAO report, the Department expected that Ofgem’s price cap would not be much above £3,000 in April 2024, meaning withdrawing the EPG at that point would not have a sudden significant impact on consumers’ bills.58 The 52 Q 197 53 Qq 106–107, 187, 190 54 Q 20 55 Qq 2, 25 56 Qq 191–192, 197 57 C&AG’s Report, para 1.4 58 C&AG’s Report, paras 3.20, 3.22. In 2022–23, the EBSS contributed £400 to household energy bills. The ending of this support will therefore add £400 to household energy bills in 2023–24 Energy bills support 19 Department told us that its most recent estimates were that average household bills would be closer to £2,000 (although it did not specify a date) and would stabilise at that level for the foreseeable future.59 But these levels are still higher than average energy bills have been prior to summer 2022 (when it was £1,149 for an average household) , and so would represent a potential long-term substantial increase in household bills.60 However, the Department explained that wholesale gas prices are volatile.61 Energy UK told us that almost half of all households, were already spending more than 10% of their income after housing costs on energy, and so were considered as being in fuel poverty. Citizen’s Advice told us that of the 12 million households in fuel poverty, it was concerned about the three million people households who were on low income but were not in receipt of benefits, as they were considered as being in fuel poverty but would not receive any targeted support to help pay their en