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British protest outside Ofgem HQ after dramatic rise in energy bills

Saturday, 27 August 2022 10:34 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 27 August 2022 10:41 AM ]

Protesters shouted “enough is enough” and held banners reading, “Freeze profits, not people” on the street in Canary Wharf.

Hundreds of Britons have protested outside the headquarters of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) in London over “astronomical” energy price hikes.

They shouted “enough is enough” and held banners reading, “Freeze profits, not people” on the street in Canary Wharf.

“The price hikes are astronomical. There’s going to be deaths from the vulnerable, the disabled, the elderly," Baldwin, a carer from Yorkshire, said.

“Ofgem are not doing anything to tackle the problem. When people start to die it’s going to be nothing short of corporate manslaughter,” she added.

On Friday, Ofgem announced an 80.06 percent increase in the energy price cap, sending the average household’s yearly bill from £1,971 to £3,549 from October.

Ofgem chief Jonathan Brearley said they had to make "difficult trade-offs" setting the new price cap.

The protest was promoted by Don’t Pay UK, a grassroots movement describing its aim as “building a mass non-payment strike of energy bills starting on October 1”.

The protesters lamented that the hike would plunge millions of children below poverty line, and make it extremely difficult for the elderly to survive.

“The reality is we should all look to our energy consumption,” Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi told broadcasters.

Money saving expert Martin Lewis has warned that people could die this winter due to high energy costs.

The sky-rocketing energy bills have given birth to inflation that currently is 13 percent and is predicted by economists to settle at 18 percent by the end of the year.

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