Energy bills are on track to rocket to a devastating £3,300 a year, households have been warned.
Experts are predicting a price cap for 23 million homes will, at its stands, surge by 64% to over £3,200 a year in October.
And they forecast it could rise even higher in January - in the depths of winter - to above £3,300 a year.
The shocking increases, which will prove a major blow to millions of cost of living households already battling to make ends meet, follow fears about Russia reducing gas to supplies to Europe.
Germany this week began rationing hot water, dimming its street lights and shutting down swimming pools as the impact of its energy crunch begins to spread from industry to offices, leisure centres and homes.
Russia is shutting its main pipeline - Nord Stream 1 - to Germany for 10 days of maintenance.
But many worry if it will reopen, given tensions between Russia and the West over the war in Ukraine.
While little of the UK’s gas comes directly from Russia, it is heavily impacted by the wider rise in wholesale gas and electricity prices.
Energy regulator Ofgem currently changes the price cap - which impacts those on standard tariffs and prepayment meters - twice a year.
It jumped from an average £1,277 to £1,971 in April for those on standard tariffs.
Ofgem’s change in October is based on wholesale prices over a six-month window that ends in mid-August.
With a little over a month to go, it seems certain the price cap will leap - with the question being by how much.
Martin Young, a utilities analyst at banking and wealth management group Investec, was among the first to warn in February that the price cap would soar this October.
At the time he predicted it would reach £3,000, and has now become the first to forecast it will top £3,200.
His forecast was backed by consultants Cornwall Insight, which yesterday estimated the average would soar to £3,244.
That would equate to the average household having try and find £270 a month for gas and electricity.
Ofgem in consulting on reviewing the price cap every three months.
If that happens, Cornwall believes the average bill will jump to £3,363 a year - £280 a month - in January.
Mr Young said: “One thing is certain, the cost of energy crisis, and the broader cost of living crisis, are not going away anytime soon.”
Dr Craig Lowrey, principal consultant at Cornwall Insight, said: “There is always some hope that the market will stabilise and retreat in time for the setting of the January cap.
“However, with the announcement of the October cap only a month away, the high wholesale prices are already being “baked in” to the figure, with little hope of relief from the predicted high energy bills.”
He added: “As it stands, energy consumers are facing the prospect of a very expensive winter.”
Under pressure, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak finally announced a package of measures in late May to help households the impact of soaring bills.
But the £400 which most households will get is small compared the average £1,273 a year hike a typical customer could be facing in October.
Low income households and pensioners will get additional help.
However, the latest warnings will pile pressure on whoever replaces Boris Johnson as Prime Minister to do more.
