the price of UK natural gas to surge<\/a> by almost a quarter, as global trade is rocked by the conflict.<\/p>\nDr Craig Lowrey, principal consultant at Cornwall Insight, said: \u201cDue to the nature of the cap methodology used by Ofgem, even if wholesale prices quickly return to pre-conflict levels, some of this recent volatility will be baked into the July 2026 cap. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe ultimate scale of any increase will depend on how long the disruption continues, and while the cap can shield consumers from short term fluctuations in the market, it cannot offset a sustained rise in wholesale market prices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blasts continue to be reported across the Middle East, as America and Israel exchange strikes with Iran. As fighting escalates, Iran has warned that it will \u201cset fire\u201d to any ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and has attacked several tankers.<\/p>\n
The strait provides the only passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, making it a crucial point for the oil industry. Around 20 per cent of the world\u2019s gas and oil is shipped through the waterway, with the Iranian threat proving highly damaging for global trade.<\/p>\n
Ofgem\u2019s energy price cap sets the maximum amount energy suppliers can charge for each unit of energy for those on a standard variable tariff. It includes most households and is expressed as an annual bill for an average home.<\/p>\n
The figure for April to June was set in February, meaning bills are effectively protected until July. The energy regulator announced a seven per cent, or \u00a3117, reduction to the figure, broadly in line with Labour’s pledge to cut energy bills by \u00a3150 from the start of the new financial year through scrapping an energy efficiency scheme.<\/p>\n
Ofgem will announce its cap for July to September by 27 May.<\/p>\n
Responding to the latest forecast, National Energy Action head of policy and public affairs Matt Copeland said: \u201cToday\u2019s forecast shows the potential for another energy crisis is real, and the consequences are severe. Even a small rise hits low-income and fuel poor households very hard. They are already carrying massive debt and have no room to absorb further pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government and Ofgem must prepare properly now. That means tackling the growing mountain of energy debt and putting in place targeted financial support that protects the most vulnerable households when prices rise.\u201d<\/p>\n
The DESNZ spokesperson added: \u201cTackling the affordability crisis is the Government\u2019s number one priority. That is why we are acting to bring bills down now and for the long term. <\/p>\n
\u201cAction we took at the Budget ensured the price cap will fall by \u00a3117 from April, which will remain in place until end of June. We have also expanded the \u00a3150 Warm Home Discount to around six million households.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-485967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Respected](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2167071350.jpg\")
Respected energy consultancy Cornwall Insight has predicted Ofgem\u2019s July price cap will rise to \u00a31,973 (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n