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Millions of people will now feel the impact of an unprecedented £700-a-year rise in energy costs - at the same time as a host of bill hikes take effect.
The 54% rise in the energy price cap means a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity will now pay £1,971 per year. A further rise pushing the annual bill up to £2,600 should be expected in October, one analyst has told the BBC.
Council tax, water bills, and car tax are also going up for some on 1 April. Minimum wage rates are rising which, along with some financial support from the government, is partially softening the blow.
The £693 a year rise in a typical energy bill will affect 18 million households, with 4.5 million customers on prepayment meters facing an even bigger increase of £708 a year. Among them is Winston Carrington, a grandfather in his 70s, who said he was growing vegetables in the garden of his Manchester home to help ease the impact of the rising cost of living.
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"I'm going to grow, and I'm going to fill my freezer this year with my own produce. I'm going to have to," said Mr. Carrington, who uses a prepayment meter.
"I can't go away this year again, not because of Covid or anything. I just can't afford to go away. The state pension that we're getting at the moment does not cover what I need."
Prices, in general, are rising at their fastest rate for 30 years, but the sudden increase in the cost of energy is the most significant for individuals. A number of suppliers' websites have struggled to cope as customers provided meter readings to ensure they paid no more than was absolutely required.
Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, told the BBC: "Month after month we're breaking the records for the people who are coming to us for crisis support."
"This is a cost-of-living crisis that affects everyone, but it doesn't affect everyone equally, and people who are already struggling are going to find themselves in a really dire situation".
The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, said the country is facing the biggest single shock from energy prices since the 1970s. It is the largest increase, by far, in the energy regulator Ofgem's price cap, since it was introduced.
The cap is set every six months for England. Wales and Scotland are designed to protect domestic customers from the volatility of wholesale energy prices.
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However, official forecasters and analysts have warned people to be braced for another huge rise in energy bills when the next cap takes effect in October. Wholesale prices have been affected by the war in Ukraine and ongoing pressure on suppliers.
This could add another £629 to a typical bill in October, according to the most up-to-date prediction, provided to the BBC by leading energy consultancy firm Cornwall Insight.
If this proved to be accurate, then the average bill next winter would be double that of the winter just gone. A typical bill is expected to fall back to the current level in summer 2023, although longer-term forecasts are tricky.
Bill Bullen, the boss of Utilita, warned that elderly people and children were at serious risk over the next winter because of a lack of heating.
"We are going to see an extra £500 or £600 added to bills in October, and frankly the chancellor's going to have to fund that entirely for low-income households," he told the BBC's Today program. "He won't be able to afford to take this problem away for everybody... but for customers who can't respond to that price [increase], that's where the help needs to be targeted."
Chris O'Shea, chief executive of Centrica, which owns the UK's largest supplier British Gas, said his business was supporting struggling customers and was giving grants to those most in need. "We would love to do more. The reality is that for a retail energy company, the market has gone through quite a change, and profits have reduced quite substantially," he told the BBC's Big Green Money Show. However, he accepted that profits had risen sharply for the heavily taxed exploration arm of the business.
Source: BBC
