Ofgem price cap rise pushes energy prices to a three year high

Ofgem's latest energy price cap rise pushes energy prices to a three year high, Citizens Advice said on 26 August 2026, as the charity called on the government to fund a reformed energy support scheme for those who need it most¹.

Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said the rise was "another sign of the relentless erosion of living standards across the country: energy bills are simply too high, prices leapfrog incomes, and debt levels continue to grow"¹. She said the government had already taken positive action to cut levies and VAT on electricity, but that the impact of the conflict in the Middle East meant people still face rising costs¹.

Citizens Advice published research alongside the response. It said more than a third of Brits are worried about how they will afford their energy bills this winter, and that 3.5 million households are currently in energy debt, either behind on their bills or without gas or electricity because they cannot afford to top up their prepayment meter¹.

The charity's figures on prepayment meter customers cover the last year:

Source: Citizens Advice, 26 August 2026¹

Citizens Advice is the statutory consumer advocate for energy and postal markets, a role that sits alongside other bodies representing consumers in regulated markets¹. Its consumer service can be reached on 0808 223 1133, or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers¹. The charity said it helped 2.71 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2024-25, and had 44 million visits to its website, with staff supported by more than 19,500 trained volunteers at over 1,900 locations across England, Wales and the Channel Islands¹.

The response does not set out the level of the cap, the size of the increase or the date it takes effect. Those figures have not been reported here¹.

Why it matters for households

The cap limits what suppliers can charge for each unit of gas and electricity, and the standing charge, on default tariffs, so a rise feeds through to the bills of households that have not fixed a price. Citizens Advice's figures point to the position of households already behind: 3.5 million in energy debt, and more than a quarter of prepayment meter customers who lost supply in the past year because they could not afford to top up¹. Prepayment customers pay for energy before using it, so a top-up they cannot afford means no supply rather than a larger arrears balance.

The charity's call is for a reformed support scheme aimed at groups it names as most at risk, including single parent families and disabled people¹. No such scheme has been announced in the response. The Energy Price Guarantee is a separate, earlier intervention. Households in Northern Ireland are not covered by the Ofgem cap, which applies in Great Britain.

What happens next

Citizens Advice has asked the government to commit to funding a reformed energy support scheme for those who need it most¹. No date has been given for a government response, and no further timetable appears in the charity's statement¹.