UK households see energy bills rise 500 per cent due to Ofgem 'loophole'

James Rodger
·2-min read

UK households have been warned their energy bills will rise 500 PER CENT - due to a Ofgem "loophole". As the Cost of Living crisis continues, housing scheme residents have seen energy bills rise 500 per cent in April due to a price cap "loophole".

Residents living in the Greendykes development in Edinburgh saw their heating and hot water bills increase in excess of £1,200 a year due to their homes being on a heat network. They saw their heating and hot water bills increase in excess of £1,200 a year.

Residents who are part of district heating schemes fall into a "loophole" of the price cap and even though they are domestic customers, they do not get the same protections. One resident told EdinbrughLive: “I am now facing bills in excess of £200 a month for simple heating and hot water requirements.

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"This will put a huge financial strain on my budgeting, alongside the many other cost of living increases faced today. As our home is served by district heating, not only are we not protected by any price cap or regulations, but we are also trapped to one provider with no option to shop around or swap tariffs, leaving myself and my neighbours forced to find five times the money to simply have warm showers and heat our homes.”

MP for Edinburgh East Tommy Sheppard said: “Residents are worried and rightly angry about the impact of these eye-watering rises. It’s farcical that having done everything right, these residents now face bills well in excess of what they would be paying if they had an individual gas boiler. This defeats the entire point of low carbon energy schemes which are essential if we’re to continue to make progress on tackling climate change.

“The UK Government need to urgently bring district heating schemes under the same price protections as the rest of the energy market. It’s not right that energy companies continue to make a killing out of residents purely because of a technicality that the UK Government have been aware of for years and have done nothing to resolve. I’m demanding action from UK Ministers.

"They’ve been asleep at the wheel while residents in my constituency are suffering, they need to fix this now. What’s happening isn’t fair.” A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: "These bill rises are unacceptable and do not reflect the drop in energy prices that should be passed onto customers.

"Heat suppliers should ensure they are on the most competitive energy contracts and review their pricing to ensure that customers receive the best possible deal. We are introducing tougher protections from next year, to ensure all heat network customers get a good service and fair prices.”

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