From 1 July the Ofgem energy price cap rises to £1,862 for a typical household, a 13 percent increase that all but erases the modest fall families saw in the spring. Just as households began to breathe out, the bill lands again. And buried within that bill are costs that ministers would rather you did not examine too closely.
A 13% Hike Households Cannot Absorb
For a country already paying up to £6,000 a year more for everyday essentials, a 13 percent jump in energy costs is not a rounding error. It is the difference between coping and not coping for millions of households. Pensioners on fixed incomes, families on tight budgets and small businesses running on thin margins will all feel this in July. A short-lived spring reduction followed by a sharp summer rise is not relief. It is a yo-yo that leaves people permanently anxious about the next bill.
The Hidden Hand of Net Zero
Network costs alone have risen by around £66 a year to fund the rewiring of the grid for the net zero transition. Policy and network charges are projected to keep climbing. These are not market forces. They are political choices, loaded onto your bill by a government that refuses to be honest about what its net zero timetable actually costs. Every levy, every subsidy and every infrastructure charge is paid for in the end by the same households being told their bills will come down.
Energy Security Sacrificed
Worse still, this all happens while Britain's energy security sits dangerously exposed. Instability in the Middle East and volatile global oil and gas prices feed straight through to what we pay at home. Rather than maximising our own reliable domestic supply, the government has bet the country on an expensive and rushed transition. You cannot keep the lights on and bills down by importing instability and taxing production.
What Reform UK Would Do
Reform UK would scrap the punitive net zero levies that inflate every bill and would back secure, affordable domestic energy, including our own gas and a serious approach to supply rather than ideology. We would tell the public the truth about what the current path costs and put British households and businesses first. Cheaper, more secure energy is not a fantasy. It is a choice this government keeps refusing to make.
Ministers promised that net zero would cut bills. In July, the bill goes up 13 percent. The public can see exactly who is paying for the gap between the promise and the reality.