Drop from £1,690 driven by fall in wholesale gas prices but household bills still substantially higher than three years ago.
The energy price cap in Great Britain will fall 7% to the equivalent of £1,568 a year this summer after a drop in wholesale gas prices.
Set by the energy regulator, Ofgem, the cap reflects the average annual dual-fuel bill for 29m households and takes effect from July until the end of September.
The cap, which is set quarterly, will fall by £122 in July from its current level of £1,690, easing the pressure on household finances.
Although that represents a fillip for hard-pressed consumers, it still leaves bills far above the £1,154 cap in the summer of 2021, before the energy crisis. Wholesale gas prices began to rise sharply in 2021 and escalated after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Bills have since eased from their peak in 2023 – when the cap reached £4,279 but the government subsidised bills to keep them at £2,500 – but remain above pre-crisis levels, meaning millions of households are expected to remain in fuel poverty.
Jess Ralston, an energy analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: “Households are still struggling with bills that are hundreds of pounds higher than pre-crisis levels, and estimates suggest bills may rise again as we head into winter.
“Whatever colour the next government is, we’ll be heading into a winter still heavily dependent on volatile gas markets, going backwards on our energy independence. The cost of living, driven in part by energy bills, and the UK’s energy security may well be key election issues – so how the parties choose to tackle them will likely be in the spotlight.”
The price cap is expected to rise slightly in October before falling again in January 2025, according to analysis by the consultancy Cornwall Insight. It had forecast July’s cap would be £1,574 a year.
The coronation ceremony of King Charles III of Great Britain will take place on May 6 next year, Buckingham Palace announced on Tuesday.
“Buckingham Palace is delighted to announce that the coronation of His Majesty the King will take place on Saturday 6 May 2023,” the royal residence said in a statement.
The ceremony at Westminster Abbey will be officiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
In addition, Queen Consort Camilla is crowned along with Charles III.
Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the age of 96. On September 10, the Council of Succession proclaimed her son as the new monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Charles III.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy and Turkey demonstrate their readiness to become guarantors of Ukraine’s security, but there is still no final answer from anyone
“Today, those who demonstrate that they are ready – we don’t have any signatories yet, but there is a demonstration – from Johnson, from Britain, from the USA, from Italy, from Turkey. I think it will be separate from the European Union,” reports he said, said on Saturday in an interview with the Ukrainian online media outlet Ukrayinska Pravda.
“I spoke separately with Ursula (President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen), separately with Charles Michel (Head of the European Council Charles Michel – UP), France, Germany.
We will do the first circle of conversation in this format for five (Britain, USA, Germany, France, Poland). Then other countries will join,” Zelensky said.
According to the publication, Zelensky believes that Ukraine will not have a problem with weapons or sanctions against the aggressor country, but there will be issues with the military component.
Ukraine and Great Britain have agreed on the joint construction of warships and bases for the domestic Navy, the press service of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine has said.
“On June 21 in Odesa aboard the HMS DEFENDER missile destroyer of the Royal Navy, Defence Procurement Minister of Great Britain Jeremy Quin and Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Myroniuk signed a memorandum on maritime partnership projects between the UK industry consortium and the Ukrainian Navy,” the ministry said.
In particular, the memorandum provides for the joint design and construction of warships in Ukraine and Great Britain, the reconstruction of Ukrainian shipbuilding enterprises and the construction of two bases of the Ukrainian Naval Forces.
In addition, the ceremony was attended by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov; First Sea Lord of Great Britain, Admiral Tony Radakin and British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons.
The ceremony participants watched the joint exercises of the Ukrainian, British and U.S. servicemen aboard the warship.
The HMS DEFENDER destroyer arrived in Odesa last Friday, June 18. This is the second Royal Navy warship to visit Odesa in the last few weeks, after HMS TRENT.
A visa-free regime of entry into Ukraine and a transit via Ukraine was introduced for the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was introduced on a temporary basis from January 31, 2020 to January 30, 2021. Respective decree No.28/2020 as of January 29 signed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was posted on the president’s website.
“To introduce from January 31, 2020 to January 30, 2021 a visa-free regime of entry into Ukraine and transit via the territory of Ukraine for the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, if their stay in Ukraine does not exceed 90 days within 180 days,” reads the text of the decree.
The decree comes into force on the day it was published.
The fruit and berry harvest in 2018 could exceed the last year figure by 10-30%, Chairman of the Ukrsadprom association Dmytro Kroshka has said. “With favorable weather conditions, gross harvest of pomaceous, drupaceous fruit, berries and nuts in industrial farms could reach the average figure of the past years – 400,000-500,000 tonnes. The 2018 harvest could exceed the last year figure by 10-30%,” he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday. Weather is the main risk factor. Kroshka said that this year blooming this year is quick due to high temperatures and some fruit and berries are ripening quickly. In addition, simultaneous expansion of depredators, the high likelihood of hail and not enough moisture in soil (twice less) would also affect the volume of the harvest.
Director of the Berry Nursery Brusviana Liliana Dmytriyeva said that the Ukrainian market is specific. In particular, the share of berries planted at farms is from one third to one fifth, while the rest is planted in households.
“At present, the leader in planted areas in Ukraine is black currant – around 50% of all areas of agricultural companies. Strawberry occupies 20-24% of the market and raspberry – 13-14%. Areas with blackberry occupy 13% of total areas, according to the State Statistics Service, while other sources said that it is 24%,” Dmytriyeva said.She also said that areas with sea-buckthorn, honeysuckle and alpine strawberry are swelling. Leaders in production of berries of all types are Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions, in production by agricultural companies – Vinnytsia, Volyn, Zhytomyr and Khmelnytsky regions. She said that the largest number of companies planting berries was created in these regions.
The new type of business is being developed in Ukraine: planting of berries “in tunnels.” “This allows preventing the influence of some cold factors and having early harvest. Berries “from tunnels” are more expensive than those planted in fields, but it allows placing Ukrainian products to the shelves of retail stores for a longer period of time,” the director of the Berry Nursery Brusviana said. The experts do not expect a significant reduction in prices in the market and among the main factors that may affect them, are: a significant increase in the area under berries, a rise in the price of crop protection products and fertilizers by almost 30% compared to 2017, as well as exports.
“The presence of competition, on one hand, should reduce the price, but on the other hand: there are natural negative factors that will affect the harvest. Most enterprises were not oriented to “fresh” or to domestic markets, so a significant increase in areas would not entail increased competition in the domestic market,”, Dmytriyeva said.
As for the supply of Ukrainian products abroad, Europe remains the most popular market.
“The most expensive and popular market is Europe, in particular, Great Britain, Germany, but to get to this market you need to incur certain costs for both fresh berries and frozen ones. Many enterprises plan to do this, but not everyone is ready,” she said.
In addition, Ukraine is also interested in the market of the Middle East. The market of neighboring countries, in particular, Belarus, is traditional.
In turn, the chairman of Ukrsadprom said that this marketing year, Ukraine exported apples to one of the new markets – the UAE.
