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Energy bills remain ‘excruciatingly high’ for disabled people despite the energy price cap fall, a charity has said.

Disability charity Scope has called for the government to bring in a social energy tariff this winter – which would see disabled people, older people and carers have discounted energy bills.

Scope is calling for a social tariff despite energy regulator Ofgem having announced on Friday August 25 that the energy price cap is set to fall in October.

The cap will be set at an annual level of £1,923 – marking the first time the cap has been below £2,000 in 18 months.

However, unlike last winter there is not set to be help for all homes. The £400 support from the government given to all homes is no longer available.

While 29 million households in England, Wales and Scotland can still expect to pay close to double the rate for their gas and electricity than before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – disabled households are likely to be hit harder.

James Taylor, executive director of strategy at Scope said: “When turning off the power can be a matter of life and death, it’s clear our broken energy market needs an urgent reboot.

“Energy still costs more than double what it did two years ago and bills remain excruciatingly high for disabled people.

“Today’s price cap isn’t a limit on bills, but a cap on the cost of each unit of energy used.”

He continued: “We know that disabled people use more energy, and the extra cost of disability stacks up.

“Many disabled households can’t simply turn off nebulisers or go without energy to charge wheelchairs and hoists.

“The government has broken its promise of delivering a social energy tariff. Creating this tariff in time for winter needs to be a political priority.”

In Caerphilly County Borough alone, 23.6% of the 176,000 population is classed as disabled according to statistics from the 2021 Census administered by the Office for National Statistics.

This is more than the average 21.6% across Wales.

Jonathan Brearley, Ofgem CEO, said: “It is welcome news that the price cap continues to fall, however, we know people are struggling with the wider cost-of-living challenges and I can’t offer any certainty that things will ease this winter.

“That’s why we’ve introduced new measures to support consumers, including reducing costs for those on pre-payment meters and introducing a PPM code of conduct that all suppliers need to meet before they restart installation of any mandatory PPMs.

“There are signs that the financial outlook for suppliers is stabilising and reasonable profits are returning. With the small additional allowance we’ve made to Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT), this means there should be no excuses for suppliers not to be doing all they can to support their customers this winter, and to reinforce this we’ll be introducing a consumer code of conduct which we will look to have in place by winter.”

Anyone who needs help with their energy bills can visit Caerphilly County Borough Council’s website for information