Ofgem

Where would we be without Ofgem, eh? Amid soaring energy prices and a cost-of-living crisis, the energy regulator this week unveiled its latest wheeze to help struggling households: updating the energy price cap every three months, rather than six, to try to avoid price shocks.  The cap – which is the maximum price per unit that suppliers can charge customers – is currently updated twice a year in April and October. Ofgem’s announcement came after a typical energy bill jumped last month from £1,277 to £1,971 and is forecast to soar a further 32 per cent when the cap is revised again in October. And, for those on prepayment meters, the price of energy has

Will it turn out to be Boris Johnson’s Jim Callaghan moment? Briefing reporters on his plane to the US on Sunday, the current PM tried to play down the energy crisis, saying:  ‘It’s like everybody going back to put the kettle on at the end of a TV programme, you’re seeing huge stresses on the world supply systems.’  The gas price spike would be over just as soon as it occurred, he implied, and was caused by nothing more than the global economy rebounding after many months on the Covid couch. It all had faint overtones of the moment during the Winter of Discontent 42 years ago when the then