British households are facing a “significant rise” in the price cap which helps control the cost of energy, the Government regulator admitted on Friday.
The price cap was introduced in January 2019 to protect customers who are on a standard tariff — usually a supplier’s most expensive — from paying too much for their energy.
It is renewed twice a year and is currently set at £1,277 for an average user.
“We can’t predict everything, and the wholesale market, as we’ve seen, has gone up and down extremely quickly so we can’t predict fully what that will be,” Mr Brearley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“But looking at the costs that are in the system we are expecting a significant rise in April.”
He added that the current price cap will remain in place until April 2022. “We have no plans to raise the price cap before [then],” he said.
Gas prices have been soaring over the past few months and earlier this week were trading at about six times the levels they were at in January.
It has put pressure on businesses and will squeeze householders turning on their heating over the winter as the cost of living continues to rise and famililes deal with cuts to benefits and face increasing taxes.
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was due to meet with the bosses of energy intensive industries, such as steel and chemicals, to discuss the crisis.
“The energy price cap is holding back a wave of instant bill increases,” he tweeted. “It will remain in place, and at the same level, this winter.
“The current situation is being driven by global fluctuations in gas prices
“We need to end our dependency on fossil fuels to insulate ourselves from global prices.”
Russia, a major supplier of gas to Europe, has been accused of deliberately restricting supply and driving up prices.
