Page 36 - Londra Gazete Sayı 1128

Londra Gazete, 20 October 2022 LondraGazete.com/English 5

Warning energy bills may

rise above £4,000 in April

TYPICAL household energy
bills could reach £4,347 a year
from April after the government
said it would scale back support,
an analyst has estimated.
Cornwall Insight's forecast
comes after the chancellor said
the energy bill help, which had
been due to last for two years,
would be cut in April.
The government said the most
vulnerable would continue to be
Two-year mortgage rates protected from soaring energy
prices.
The forecasts could change de-
hit fresh 14-year high pending on movements in whole-
sale energy prices.
The new Chancellor, Jeremy that suppliers can charge for each £2,500. That is up from £1,277
AVERAGE mortgage interest with soaring inflation, but have
rates are the highest they have increased sharply since Septem- Hunt, announced the change to unit of energy, was originally put last winter.
been since the 2008 financial cri- ber due to market fallout from the energy price support as part in place for two years from 1 Oc- The details of support from
sis, data suggests. the government's mini-budget. of a package of measures de- tober. April will be decided following
While U-turns in UK govern- While new Chancellor Jeremy signed to save money after the Now it will only be in place for a review, Mr Hunt said. He said
ment policy are expected to calm Hunt has undone £32bn of his government's mini-budget left a six months, covering this winter, those on lower incomes would
markets and ease pressure on predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng's tax big projected hole in the public with the Treasury reviewing the be supported and there will be
mortgage rates, this has not fed cuts, the pressure on mortgage finances. support given from April. incentives to be more energy ef-
through to consumers yet, ac- rates has not yet eased. On Monday, he said "it would Under the current cap consum- ficient.
cording to research from Money- At least 100,000 people per not be responsible to continue ers still pay for the gas and elec- Predictions from Cornwall In-
facts. month are coming to the end of exposing public finances to un- tricity they use. A typical house- sight suggest that, for households
The average rate for two-year their current mortgage deal, and limited volatility in international hold - one that uses 12,000 kWh that do not receive any support, a
fixed rate loan rose to 6.53% on face steep rises in monthly repay- gas prices". (kilowatt hours) of gas a year typical annual energy bill could
Tuesday, Moneyfacts said. ments. The government's Energy Price and 2,900 kWh of electricity - be £4,347 in the spring, dropping
That was the highest rate for The number of mortgages avail- Guarantee, which limits the price currently faces an annual bill of to £3,722 next winter.
such a deal since August 2008. able for homebuyers dropped
The average interest rate on sharply after the government's
a five-year fixed rate mortgage mini-budget, but has recovered
has risen to 6.36%, Moneyfacts somewhat - although there are Half a million Universal Credit
said, the highest since November still far fewer available compared
2008. with 2021. As well as cutting the
Mortgage rates have been rising number of mortgages available, claimants refused living payment
for months as central banks raise lenders have also been increasing
interest rates to try to get to grips mortgage rates. MORE than half a million peo- Johnson in July, was a payment of Jonathan Ashworth, the shad-
ple on low incomes missed out on of £326 - the first half of a to- ow secretary of state for the de-
a government grant to help with tal £650 - for millions of people partment.
Cost of living crisis deepens soaring energy bills. claiming Universal Credit. Labour said some of the claim-
Earlier this year ministers an- But 551,000 people did not get ants may have missed out be-
as price rises hit 40-year high nounced a series of measures the payment because they earned cause they received two days of
to ease the pressure on people too much from work.
pay in the same 30-day qualifying
struggling to pay their gas and The Department for Work and period because their wages come
THE rate of inflation rose to the increases, the ONS reported.
10.1% in September, according Commenting on the current price electricity bills. Pensions (DWP) did not dispute every four weeks.
Among the package, announced the figures, given by DWP minis-
to official figures, as the econo- picture, ONS director of econom- by former prime minister Boris ter Vicrotia Prentis at the request This meant that their income
my reels from the effects of rising ic statistics, Darren Morgan, said: was temporarily too high and
prices and the fallout from the mi- "The rise was driven by further in- they were there no longer eligible
ni-budget. creases across food, which saw its for the cash.
The Office for National Statistics largest annual rise in over 40 years, According to the Labour, a fur-
(ONS) said the consumer prices while hotel prices also increased af- ther 6,600 UC claimants were re-
index (CPI) measure rose from an ter falling this time last year. fused the grant because they got a
annual rate of 9.9% in August to "These rises were partially offset benefits sanction.
match the recent 40-year high seen by continuing falls in the costs of A DWP spokesperson said:
in July. petrol, with airline prices falling “Cost of Living Payments have
The report showed the largest by more than usual for this time been designed to target support
upwards contribution came from of year, and second-hand car pric- for households with low incomes,
food costs, while fuel provided the es also rising less steeply than the on means-tested benefits.
greatest downside pressure. large increases seen last year. “But inevitably a small number
It said the pace of food price rises "While still at a historically high will be ineligible on the qualifica-
was at its highest since April 1980 - rate, the costs facing businesses are tion dates of a change of income,
running at an annual rate of 14.5% beginning to rise more slowly, with earnings or other circumstances.
- with bread and cereals, meat prod- crude oil prices actually falling in “All claimants have the right to
ucts, milk, cheese and eggs leading September." appeal their entitlement.”