Parts of north and west Wales to be worst hit in the UK by rising energy bills
Parts of Wales will be amongst the worst hit in the UK by the expected rise in energy bills in April, with seven out of the 20 hardest-hit areas in the UK located in Wales.
Ceredigion, Gwynedd and Carmarthenshire are all in the top five local authorities that will see their energy bills rise by the highest amount, when a rise in the energy cap to an expected £1,865 comes into place.
The analysis by the Liberal Democrats used this expected 79% increase to work out the median bills, and found that rural areas of Wales were projected to suffer most of all.
Ceredigion faces an energy bill hike of £863, Gwynedd of £803, Carmarthenshire of £757 and Powys of £753 if the hike goes ahead. Anglesey will be hit by a £725 rise and Pembrokeshire by £708, and Denbighshire £707. All these local authorities are in the top 20 areas most affected in the UK.
Bills will rise by an average of £598 across the UK when the cap increases to £1,865. Overall bills are then expected to rise above £2,000 when the price cap is revised in the Autumn.
‘Asleep at the wheel’
Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said that it was “hardly surprising” that it is people in rural areas who are facing the biggest rises in bills this year.
“This is yet more evidence that the Conservatives and Welsh Labour are taking our rural communities for granted,” she said.
“Families are facing an energy bill nightmare, meanwhile the Conservative Government in Westminster is asleep at the wheel. They’ve failed to do anything to protect vulnerable people from this cost-of-living crisis.
“The Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling for the doubling and expansion of the Warm Home Discount Scheme and the doubling of the Winter Fuel Payments to protect vulnerable people this winter, funded by a one-off ‘Robin Hood Tax’ on the super-profits of gas and oil companies and traders who are raking it in hand over fist.
“Long-term we need to see the Labour-Plaid Cymru administration in the Senedd also needs significantly ramp up its insulation programme, with support to improve household insulation targeted at those who need it most.
“The Welsh Government has missed all of its fuel poverty reduction targets since 2010, we simply cannot leave this issue unaddressed any longer.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Monsterous wind turbines everywhere as far as the eye can see, in a country that the last time I looked,was the 5th largest energy exporter on the planet?We certainly export more than we use.whilst a third of our population live in energy poverty each winter. Some technician in Holland or France turns one turbine off and another on. and the infrastructure is owned by foreign energy companies and people who don’t even know where Wales is on a U.K. map. The next round of turbine building in Sengenedd will be built in an area of outstanding beauty and ancient historical… Read more »
You get one uptick but I would have given you hundreds if the system allowed it. You probably ran out of energy typing that note so as a postscript let’s add on the madness of wrecking ecosystems just by laying foundations and access roads for grand these follies. And people still wonder why there’s an upsurge in flooding in the valleys below.
Thanks.I feel the sites may then later be designated as being brown field sites and therefore ripe for ongoing,’develpment’.
We produce double our energy needs and we are still in energy poverty? This is pure colonialism.
Rabid nationalism and xenophobia have really pickled your Saesneg brain, haven’t they?
Were there any plans in that Labour /Plaid deal about setting up a nationalised energy company? I don’t see why we should be ripped off by foreign companies with our own energy.
Not to worry, as I am sure the benefits of being part of the UK will kick in, and mitigate some of the problems of rising fuel costs, and areas like Carmarthen West and Pembs can rely on their MP Simon Hart to fight for them, and do what he was elected to do.
Or maybe not.
I recall attending a conference in Cardiff many moons ago where people were talking about Wales as “the green energy nation” that would produce vast wealth for our people, and our communities. The exact opposite has happened and most people are getting poorer whilst rip-off merchants from everywhere but here are given the red carpet treatment. The notion of Sustainable Development, espoused by Welsh Government for years, has become a nice little earner for some, but a sick and sad joke for the majority.
Major sell out Brian. Nations with backbones would have kicked out the politicians and civil servants that have signed off on all this greenwash for multinationals. Community projects have by and large been overlooked or just not encouraged. Brad y melynau gwynt !
How tragic to see those parts of Wales experiencing fuel poverty, especially those areas in the North, who were once and still are net contributors to the “National Grid” when it comes to energy.