LONDON (Reuters) – British energy suppliers will be able recoup some of their costs relating to the coronavirius pandemic from April, the regulator said on Tuesday, a move that will increase electricity bills for millions of Britons.
Government measures over the past year to control the pandemic have shut down much of the economy and led to job losses and an increase in the number of people struggling to pay their energy bills.
“We have concluded that it’s in customers’ interests to allow suppliers to start to recover some additional costs related to COVID-19 from April,” Ofgem said in a statement.
A cap on electricity and gas bills came into effect in January 2019 and was a flagship policy of former British Prime Minister Theresa May to end what she called “rip-off” prices.
Ofgem sets its price cap using a formula based on supplier’s costs such as wholesale gas and electricity prices, environmental levies and costs to use and maintain the country’s energy networks.
But the next cap level, to be announced on Feb. 5 and to come into effect from April, will also include a provision of 23.69 pounds ($32.42) per customer due to coronavirus-related costs, Ofgem said.
The extra allowance would “account for the additional bad-debt costs incurred by suppliers as a result of the COVID-19 crisis,” Ofgem said.
($1 = 0.7307 pounds)
(Reporting by Susanna Twidale; editing by Jason Neely)