The latest increase in the UK energy price cap was announced on 27 May 2026, the day the Stove Industry Association published its response1. The association said the announcement would prompt many households to think again about winter heating1. The size of the increase, the level the cap will move to and the date it takes effect have not been reported in the available material.
The association's statement set out its view of what the announcement means for homes:
"With today's announcement of the latest UK energy price cap increase, many households will once again be thinking carefully about how they heat their homes this winter."
The association's article focuses on warmth and health rather than on the cap figure itself. It states that cold homes are linked to respiratory illness, cardiovascular strain and effects on mental wellbeing, and that the UK continues to record thousands of excess winter deaths each year1. It cites World Health Organization guidance recommending indoor temperatures of at least 18°C for healthy adults, with warmer temperatures advised for older people, young children and those with chronic illness1. It also argues that having more than one way to heat a home provides resilience for rural and off-grid households during severe weather, rising energy costs or energy uncertainty, and refers to modern Ecodesign wood burning stoves used with correctly dried and seasoned wood fuel1.
Earlier analysis by the independent think tank Ember, published on 22 November 2024, linked a previous cap increase to gas costs. Ember said gas prices had been rising throughout 2024 and that this was driving up electricity prices, with the average cost of generating electricity using gas reaching £77/MWh across 2024, 80% higher than the pre-energy crisis average of £43/MWh recorded between 2017 and 20202. It said the average cost of generating electricity using gas rose 14% between the mid-May to mid-August assessment period and the mid-August to mid-November period, from £78 to £88, and that a 20% rise in day-ahead wholesale gas prices coincided with that assessment window2. Ember stated that these rises were reflected in a 1.2% increase in the energy price cap announced at that time2. That figure relates to the 2024 announcement, not to the increase announced on 27 May 2026, for which no percentage has been reported.
Why it matters for households
The cap sets the maximum a supplier can charge per unit of gas and electricity, and the standing charge, for a household on a default tariff, so a change in its level flows through to what a home pays for the energy it uses. For a household, the practical effect of any increase is a higher cost for the same consumption, which puts more weight on how much energy a home uses and how well it holds heat. The association's argument is that warmth itself has health consequences, and that a home able to draw on more than one heating method has more room to manoeuvre when prices or supply are uncertain1. Ember's position is that continued reliance on gas to generate electricity keeps gas prices in control of electricity prices, and that accelerating clean power, grid investment and energy efficiency would reduce the hours in which gas sets the power price2. The two bodies address different parts of the same problem: what a household pays, and what it can do to stay warm.
What happens next
No effective date for the announced increase, no cap level and no assessment period details have been reported in the available material. The association's article is dated 27 May 2026 and does not set out further steps1.
Sources2 cited
- Why Warm Homes Matter for Health, Wellbeing and Energy Resilience, stoveindustryassociation.org
- Rising gas costs drive up GB electricity prices | Ember, ember-energy.org