UK unveils energy price cap to help 11 mn households

Ofgem's proposal, that follows recent government

legislation, calls for an initial annual ceiling of £1,136 ($1,468, 1,263 euros) for households using both gas and electricity.

"Over 11 million more households on poor

a

value default tariffs would be protected from being overcharged under proposals announced by Ofgem," the regulator said in a statement.

"Ofgem is working to have the cap in place by the end of the year," it added.

Britain's privatised domestic energy sector, run largely by UK group Centrica and eurozone-based companies, has faced criticism over default high tariffs that punish customers who for various reasons do not seek out a better deal by switching provider.

"When the price cap is introduced suppliers will have to cut their prices to the level of or below the cap, proposed to be £1,136 per year for a typical dual fuel customer" whose pay monthly from their bank accounts, Ofgem said Thursday.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-09-uk-unveils-energy-price-cap.html#jCp