Cornwall Insight’s latest forecast predicts that, under Ofgem’s price cap for July to September, a dual-fuel household using a typical amount of gas and electricity would pay £1,973 a year, up from the current £1,641.
The independent energy consultancy is currently updating its forecast weekly due to the volatile situation in the Middle East.
Wholesale energy prices jumped in the first three weeks of March, but the final cap will also depend on what happens to prices in the remaining 10 weeks before the end of May.
The energy price cap covers about19 million households in England, Wales and Scotland and is set by Ofgem every three months.
It fixes the maximum amount customers can be charged for each unit of gas and electricity on a standard – or default – variable tariff for a typical dual-fuel household which pays by direct debit. But it is presented as a cap on the typical overall annual energy charges.
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the forecast remained “highly speculative”.
“Using wholesale price fluctuations to predict what will happen in the next few months is not reliable,” he said.
The government was already taking action to bring down bills, he added, including expanding the Warm Home Discount to around six million households.
“Tackling the affordability crisis is the Government’s number one priority,” he said.