Since 2019, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) has set a price cap on the price per unit of gas and electricity for customers on standard default tariffs, which apply to consumers who have not signed up for a fixed-term contract tariff with their energy supplier. Between winter 2021–22 and summer 2022, the price cap increased by 54% from £1,277 to £1,971 a year for an average household that pays for energy through direct debit. This was mainly because wholesale energy costs doubled, initially because global energy demand increased following the COVID-19 pandemic, and then due to the impact on energy markets of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On 26 August 2022, Ofgem announced the energy price cap would further increase by 80%, to £3,549 per year from 1 October 2022, reflecting a further increase in estimated wholesale costs for energy suppliers.5