The number of households in England who spend more than 10% of their income, excluding housing costs, on energy has increased from 4.93m households in 2021 to 7.39m in 2022.
A surge in wholesale energy prices linked to the war in Ukraine has pushed up gas and electricity bills, amid a wider squeeze on household costs.
The report underlined the case for MPs and campaigners calling for the chancellor to extend the energy price guarantee, a government policy which aims to limit household bills to £2,500.
Hunt, who is due to deliver the budget on 15 March, plans to make the guarantee less generous from April, raising it to £3,000. On Monday, the regulator Ofgem announced a reduction in the quarterly price cap to £3,280 from April – down from £4,279. However, the increase in the guarantee leaves households facing a sharp rise in costs.
Read more at The Guardian
