Energy customers share shock at new quotes as price cap predicted to soar

Energy customers have told of their shock after exploring new fixed quotes, only to be offered energy prices as high as £12,000 a year.

Many customers are not being advised to switch currently, as quotes are unlikely to be cheaper than the price cap, which most are on.

According to consultancy Cornwall Insights, Ofgem is set to put the price cap to an average cost of £4,266 by January.

Among those sharing their shock at price quotes given by suppliers in the wake of the news was Dr Dan Reisel, a Clinical Research Fellow at University College London, who shared a fixed quote he had been offered for a whopping £12,166 a year.

He said: “Could someone please let me know if there is a clever way out of this hell? £12k is half my salary, and I’m an NHS doctor”.

Another customer, Sunny Chana, shared a quote for £7,122 a year - a massive increase from his previous payments of £99 a month on his last fixed deal in February.

He said: “I needed to go on a diet anyway. [There’s] only 2 of us in the house... Smart plugs on ‘large’ electrics to monitor usage, smart metre fed into Home Assistant”.

A third customer, Martin Stevens, 64, shared a quote he was given for a fixed-rate deal of £9,596 a year.

He said: “How are people supposed to pay that? I was amazed, you just can’t see why nothing’s being done by the powers that be.

“They can’t let this continue, surely - people will be choosing between eating or heating their homes”.

Many suppliers are advising that new customers do not switch to fixed-rate tariffs over the market instability.

Martin Lewis’s MoneySavingExpert website advises that there are currently no deals for new customers that are meaningfully lower than the price cap, and the cheapest straightforward open-market fixed deal is 113% higher.

However, it adds there are a few fixed deals for existing customers which are above the current price cap, but could give certainty and work out slightly cheaper over the course of the next year for some customers.

The Government has pledged £400 to every household and extra help for the more vulnerable for help with energy bills.

But it has come under increasing pressure for more to be done in recent days, with former prime minister Gordon Brown issuing a warning of “a winter of dire poverty”.