Martin Lewis today warned that the UK is facing a ‘cataclysmic’ energy crisis this winter as the price cap is set to reach £3,000 ($3,598).
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, the Money Saving Expert founder has said that we are heading for a ‘bleak winter’ with millions if not 10 million people moving into real poverty. [bold, links added]
He says that it will be the worst winter we’ve seen since the 1970s or earlier in terms of finances.
Mr. Lewis believes that the price cap will rise to £3,000 in October – which is almost four times what it cost two years ago when the cheapest deal was around £800 ($959).
Martin is concerned that £3,000 will be a huge chunk of income received by someone on universal credit.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, he said it is simply ‘unaffordable’. Speaking to hosts Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard this morning, he said:
“We are heading for a very bleak winter. It doesn’t feel it now. The sun shining. It’s a nice time. It’s easy to forget what’s going on with energy bills.
“Your prediction of £2,800 ($3,358) was what the regulator Ofgem said in May. Well, since May the year ahead wholesale prices on which the price cap is based have been higher than before.
“The latest prediction I have, which was a couple of weeks ago from Cornwall Insight, is that for somebody on typical bills, the price cap will rise to £2,980 ($3,574) in October and £3,000 in January.
“But even that, I believe, is probably now out of date. And after what’s happened in the last couple of weeks, I suspect we’re looking at over £3,000 for a typical bill coming in October.
“Now, to put that in context, a couple of years ago, the cheapest deals you can get just two years ago were around £800. So that’s a nearly fourfold increase. And £3,000 a year is such a substantial portion of the amount that a state pensioner receives or an amount somebody on universal credit, a single person on universal credit receives.
“It is unaffordable. The government, the last Chancellor, as we should now say, did put in place £1,200 to help on energy bills in the poorest households, £400 to go towards every household. But that was predicated on the £2,800 number that you discussed.
“I can’t see it being as low as £2,800 when we get the announcement at the end of August of what the price cap will be. But the new price starts on the 1st of October.
“So let’s be under no uncertain terms. What we are facing is potentially cataclysmic.
“We are talking about millions, if not 10 million people moving into real poverty this winter, the worst winter we have seen, well, maybe since the 1970s and maybe before that in financial terms. And to deal with that, the government was too slow to deal with the warnings that were given.”
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And as we saw in Texas Wind and Solar and be rendered as useless by a Big Freeze