Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reasons the cap on energy bills from 1 January 2019 was revised upwards; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the new cap will not change at six weekly intervals.

The Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Act states that Ofgem, the independent regulator, must update the level of the cap at least every 6 months. Ofgem have scheduled 6 monthly revisions each April and October. Ofgem is responsible for adjusting the cap level to reflect changes to the estimated costs of supplying electricity and gas to homes for the following 6 months.