Time to brace ourselves for the return of rip-off Britain

From utility bills to Netflix subscriptions and even stamps, households face a wave of price hikes, writes James Moore

- James Moore

If you thought Britain’s inflation crisis was over – as did much of the City (we’ll get to that) – think again. Household budgets are about to be swamped by a tsunami of price rises, some stealthy, others brutally overt. Where to start? When The Independent cast around for examples, the sheer number of recent or pending price rises almost made us dizzy.

It seems rip-off Britain is back, with bells on.

The first blow lands this month, in April, with regulator Ofgem’s energy price cap jumping 6.4 per cent. There are a few deals out there that could help people to avoid, or at least reduce, the hit. But the market is horribly complicated. My own family spent an afternoon buried in price-comparison sites, with beady eyes focused on the small print. By the time we’d finished, it felt like we’d exhausted the household stock of painkillers.

The good news is that the gurus at Cornwall Insight – who have proven remarkably accurate when it comes to divining the cap’s future – expect the price to fall back later this year. But remember, energy markets are volatile. So there are no guarantees. Next, your TV licence rises £5 to £174.50 a year. It might be “only” £5, but expect debate over the BBC’s funding in the age of streaming to get noisier.