There was more misery for British businesses and consumers yesterday, with gas prices surging to new record highs as Russia prepared to halt supplies through a crucial pipeline to Europe.
The Times reports that prices for wholesale gas for the coming winter in Britain rose to as much as 719p per therm and were still trading at more than 680p per therm last night.
Higher wholesale prices will lead to even-bigger energy bills.
Even before yesterday's developments in the gas market, industry experts had been predicting that household energy costs could triple to more than £6,000 a year by the spring.
Consultancy Auxilione said this week that the price cap on bills will gradually rise by more than £4,000 in the months ahead.
The cap is currently £1,971 for the average household, but is expected to reach £3,576 in October, then £4,799 in January and £6,089 in April.
Businesses and consumers are waiting anxiously to hear what Ofgem says in its latest announcement on the level of the price cap this Friday.
Call for energy-support plan
Craig Lowrey, principal consultant at Cornwall Insight, warned that it was "difficult to see how many will cope with the coming winter" and urged the Government to implement "a comprehensive energy-support plan".
He told the Times: "The energy crisis is not something which can be solved with hastily-pulled-together, short-term policies that yield a percentage decrease here or a few months relief there."
Russia's Gazprom has already reduced supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to a fifth of normal levels and is now shutting the pipeline entirely for three days next week for what it described as "maintenance reasons".
Tom Marzec-Manser, head of gas analytics at the price reporting agency Icis, said that the decision had sent the European gas markets into a frenzy.
"There is real fear in the market that the pipe will just not come back into service," he said.
"With the European gas market already structurally short, this sort of development could have severe consequences on the availability of gas towards the end of this coming winter and will keep wholesale prices high."
Last night the boss of Britain's ninth-largest energy supplier wrote to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwartengss, calling for urgent government intervention.
Freeze cap
Bill Bullen, chief executive of Utilita Energy, which has 830,000 customers, said that the energy price cap should be frozen.
"We have to get ahead of this problem, and the way to do that is to freeze the energy price cap at the current level," he said.
Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that an emergency planning exercise in Britain has been doubled in size as the National Grid gears up for possible gas shortages.
Potential scenarios - including rationing electricity - will be war-gamed over four days, rather than the usual two, as energy concerns grow.
The UK Government insists there is no risk to UK energy supplies and consumers should not panic.
But industry insiders told the BBC that ministers need to do more to secure supplies this winter.