The price cap is providing only very limited protection to households from increases in the wholesale price of energy. The price cap limits the rates suppliers can charge customers for the standing charge and for each unit of electricity and gas used. The level at which Ofgem sets the price cap is largely driven by the wholesale price of energy. In winter 2021–22, prices in the wholesale market were six times their normal level, and by the summer of 2022 were ten times the normal level. In August 2022 Ofgem announced that the price cap for a typical customer paying by direct debit would rise to £3,549 a year in October 2022, from £1,971 in April