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Parts of Wales set to be the worst hit in the UK by crippling energy price hike

03 Feb 2022 4 minute read
Photo by Constellate on Unsplash

Parts of Wales are set to be the hardest hit in the UK as a result of crippling energy price hikes announced by Ofgem today.

The UK energy regulator has announced a 54% increase in the energy price cap, with average bills reaching nearly £2,000. Average energy bills per household are expected to rise by £970 in some areas, according to analysis of ONS data by the party.

The worst-hit local authority areas include Ceredigion (£972), Gwynedd (£904), Carmarthenshire (£853) and Powys (£848), according to ONS figures.

Households will receive a one-off £200 discount from their energy bills this year, and households in England, which are in council tax bands A-D, will also receive a £150 rebate. The Welsh Government will receive £175 million in Barnett consequentials from the announcement.

But Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds, whose mid-Wales constituency covers all of the worst-hit areas, said that the country now faced an “absolute energy bill nightmare” with “some of the worst affected areas being Conservative held seats”.

She called for a ‘Robin Hood’ tax on the profits of oil and gas companies.

“But instead of taxing the record profits of oil and gas companies to fund a package of support, Rishi Sunak is simply spreading the pain for families over the coming years,” she said.

“These plans are playing Russian roulette with taxpayers’ money, gambling that energy prices will fall instead of investing in keeping people’s bills down.”

She called for a ‘Robin Hood’ tax on the profits of oil and gas companies. We would scrap the Conservatives’ unfair tax hike, offer support to the most vulnerable and insulate more  homes to slash their energy bills in the long term.

“Sadly, it seems many Welsh Conservative MPs are more interested in protecting the large profits of global oil and gas companies rather than providing support to families struggling to meet ends met up and down the country.”

County Increase to energy bills in April 2022
Gwynedd £904
Carmarthenshire £853
Powys £848
Isle of Anglesey £817
Pembrokeshire £797
Denbighshire £797
Conwy £748
Blaenau Gwent £747
Rhondda Cynon Taf £740
Flintshire £717
Neath Port Talbot £716
Monmouthshire £716
Merthyr Tydfil £696
Caerphilly £687
Bridgend £679
Vale of Glamorgan £668
Swansea £667
Wrexham £657
Torfaen £647
Newport £607
Cardiff £603

‘Long overdue’

Plaid Cymru’s Treasury spokesperson Ben Lake MP described the Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s measures as a “sticking plaster on the growing societal wound that is fuel poverty”.

He criticised the measures for “pushing the price rise on low-income households down the road” and urged the Government to “re-evaluate its decisions” saying that tax hikes and welfare cuts are “simply not what households or businesses need right now”.

Ben Lake MP highlighted that 275,000 homes in Wales, nearly a fifth of all households, were not connected to the gas grid in 2020. In rural areas like Ceredigion, that figure rises to over 80 per cent. The Ceredigion MP secured confirmation that the rebate would apply to electricity bills.

“This is long overdue support but is only a sticking plaster on the growing societal wound that is fuel poverty,” he said. “The problems facing Welsh households have been long-standing and the £200 pound relief-now-pay later rebate merely pushes the price rise on low-income households down the road.

“The Government needs to re-evaluate its decisions – tax hikes and welfare cuts are simply not what households or businesses need right now. I urge the Chancellor to increase Universal Credit now and to match Plaid Cymru’s funding calls to end fuel poverty this decade in Wales.

“It is now for the Welsh Government to get funding out of the door and to households, including those unconnected to the mains gas grid. But we need to do more and implement improved household energy efficiency measures to reduce bills, benefit our climate and give us long-term energy security.”


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Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
2 years ago

Gwynedd top of the list, now there is a surprise, the county with the greatest potential for home grown energy…there must be another way…

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
2 years ago
Reply to  Mab Meirion

Wow! I was in a hurry earlier and did not read to the bottom, where I find Cardiff…This is no time for irony…this is topsy turvy land…Mr Gething as we are both Aber men perhaps you could enlighten me?

Last edited 2 years ago by Mab Meirion
Kerry Davies
Kerry Davies
2 years ago

I had to renew gas and electricity contracts for March, my monthly payments rose by 29% and that is before this Ofgem hike. I tried comparison websites and none offered me anything at all, a complete blank. I am resigned to paying £209 a year more now and much more later. I will afford the rising costs, I have to as a carer for a very vulnerable person, but I dread to think how many this will kill if we have a cold snap or a hard winter next year. A £200 loan isn’t going to cut it for most… Read more »

hdavies15
hdavies15
2 years ago
Reply to  Kerry Davies

You got off lightly. My renewal at end of Nov has whacked me for an additional £77 per month, part of which I can cut back by a change in user profile but still estimate it will be up by 60 per month. The bit that gets me is the comment “Sadly, it seems many Welsh Conservative MPs are more interested in protecting the large profits of global oil and gas companies rather than providing support to families struggling to meet ends met up and down the country.” It not just those oil and gas corporates but others who are… Read more »

Peter Cuthbert
Peter Cuthbert
2 years ago

Good for Ben Lake standing up and telling the Lets Have a Party Tories how it is. One wonders why, given that Wales is a net renewable energy exporter, it is that the cost of energy is so high. Looking at my bills from Bulb the year to 1 Jan 2021 was £1,446 but for the year to 1st Jan 2022 was £2,948, so up by £1,502. This is in a 1930s semi in Aberystwyth with three elderly folk. This is perhaps a good illustration of why there is such a need to upgrade and insulate the housing stock in… Read more »

Geoff Horton-Jones
Geoff Horton-Jones
2 years ago

Am I thinking why when I am struggling to make ends meet should I accept a loan of 200 pounds just to immediately incur a debt of 250 pounds..
This is Tory loanshark economics
Avoid at all costs

hdavies15
hdavies15
2 years ago

Big government and big business combining to give you a big shafting ! And they expect you to be grateful for their intervention.

Selwyn
Selwyn
2 years ago

The debt will be £200 and repaid at the rate of £40 per annum over 5 years

Richard Wells
Richard Wells
2 years ago

The worst-hit local authority area is Ceredigion £972

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