With all eyes turned on what level of energy price cap Ofgem will announce this Friday, concerns are growing over how much Britons will pay for their energy bills this winter.

The most recent Cornwall Insight estimate suggests the price cap could rise to £3,244 in October and could hit more than £3,600 next year.

On Saturday, consultancy firm Auxilione said energy bills could hit £6,089 in April next year.

But do these estimates and worrying figures reflect the real prices in the market?

Dr Keith Baker, a researcher in fuel poverty and energy policy at the Built Environment Asset Management (BEAM) Centre at Glasgow Caledonian University told ELN that the price cap figures that are going around reflect a cap on the unit charges and “it is not a cap on how high a customer’s bill could get”.

Mr Baker said: “I don’t think that a lot of people have prepared for what’s coming over in October and in January.

“Obviously, we don’t know what situation the energy market is going to be in April next year, but that’s the winter season gone. It’s partly going to depend on whether we get warm weather or cold winter or anything else as well.

“I think we are into very scary territory. It’s looking very bad, It’s just a case of how much worse it’s going to get.”

Yesterday, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the looming energy price cap hike ‘must not be allowed to go ahead’ and warned the government to act on the energy crisis ahead of Friday’s announcement.

ELN has contacted Ofgem for a response.