High energy bills force parents to miss childcare payments
Nearly 14% of parents have missed childcare payments due to soaring energy costs, with 18% of households failing to pay essential bills in the past year, according to a study by Uswitch.
With rising energy costs taking their toll on UK households nearly 18% have struggled to pay essential bills tor mortgage payments in the past 12 months, with 14% forces to skip childcare or nursery payments.
With the price that most households in the UK pay for their electricity and gas forecast to go up by 5% on 1st January 2024, according to Cornwall Insight, concerns over what could happen in the winter are on the rise.
According to the survey, 24% of households fear having to lower their heating this winter to allocate funds for food, while 10% anticipate having to turn it off entirely.
Nearly 15% of households expect to cut spending on food to afford to keep the heating on.
As winter approaches, cutbacks on restaurant dining (41%), fast food (40%), streaming subscriptions (26%) and charitable contributions (24%) are expected.
As reported a lot over the last few months, wholesale energy costs are being pressured by external factors and geopolitical factors including disruptions to gas from Scandinavia, the Israel-Hamas conflict and industrial action in Australian gas production facilities.
All of these have had a significant affect on the price of gas which the UK still heavily relies on for its default energy source for both heating as well as electricity generation, with 35% the UK’s electricity demand on average currently coming from gas.
While mild weather so far this winter has helped short term prompt prices, this has had a little affect on gas prices from January onwards.
Slightly better news as we approach spring 2024, the cap is expected to reduce, although it will remain elevated compared to historical levels.
Looking ahead to the second 2024 cap period (April-June), Cornwall Insight anticipates an 8p per day increase in electricity standing charges, influenced by the ongoing reform of network charges to meet the increases born from creating a more sustainable and renewable future.
This shift from per unit to per day charges means customers will incur these costs regardless of their actual consumption.
The official cap announcement by Ofgem for January to March is scheduled for 21st November 2023.