Help for Barnet residents following recent energy price rises

Colin Joseph of Citizens Advice Barnet on support to deal with the price cap rise

A UK electricity meter — Richard Harvey, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Barnet residents can expect to pay an extra £18.00 per month for gas and electricity following this week’s announcement of an increase in the energy price cap.

Under the cap the average gas and electricity bill will increase by 13% to the equivalent of £1,862 a year from July until the end of September, up from £1,641 a year in April to June.

The increase in the price cap announced by Ofgem (on Wednesday 27th May) is needed because of higher wholesale gas prices, caused by the ongoing Iran war, which could severely impact households in the borough already struggling to make ends meet.

But while the rising cost of energy this summer is expected to be painful for some Barnet households, the bigger concern will be for bills from October when consumers will typically use more energy.

Fuel debt continues to be a key issue for Barnet residents, and at Citizens Advice Barnet it is the most prominent debt problem that we help residents with after Council Tax debt. Fuel debt is more common in Barnet than rent arrears and credit/store card debt.

The most common fuel debt problems we see at Citizens Advice Barnet are residents finding it difficult to cope with debt repayments, liability for the debt and residents being unable to pay ongoing charges. Other key energy issues that we help people with include helping residents access fuel vouchers and help with billing/meter readings.

Our recent research shows that there has been a 12% increase in the number of people we helped with fuel debt this March compared to the year before and we expect more residents to seek help from October when energy usage increases.

We would recommend that Barnet residents who are struggling with their energy bills to not suffer in silence and to seek help early by contacting their supplier to discuss ways to pay what they owe them. Your supplier has to help you come to a solution and you should try to negotiate a deal that works for both of you.

If you are worried about your energy bills and ability to pay in the future, please look at our website to see what help is on offer at: https://barnetcab.org.uk/get-advice/online-help/

Colin Joseph is a research and campaigns volunteer at Citizens Advice Barnet

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