Gas and electricity bills will increase by an average of 5% per household next year. Ofgem announced a new Energy Price Cap, which will come into force on January 1, 2024. The cap will be set at an average £1,928 a year for a typical dual-fuel household paying by direct debit.

That’s an average increase of 5% per household.

The unit rate - the amount you pay based on usage - will change at the start of the new year. Gas will be going up by 4.6% per kilowatt hour (kWh) and electricity by 7.6% per kWh.

However standing charges will remain the same as current levels - 29p per day for gas and 53p per day for electricity.

The changes will affect each household differently. If you use gas more than electricity you’ll see less of an increase in your bills than someone who uses electricity more, and vice versa.

The changes for people who pre-pay for their energy bills are not yet known.

You can see an estimate as to how much your bill will increase from January using our energy bills calculator:

Energy bills for all households are set to be higher this coming January than they were in January 2023.

From October 2022 to March 2023, every household received an additional £66 a month towards their energy bills. That subsidy has since been removed.

The Price Cap changes every three months and had been falling in recent months.