April is the cruellest month

My MP is boasting on Twitter and BlueSky that thousands of people in Swansea will have more money in their pockets because the state pension and National Living Wage are going up, but you get the impression that he isn't that convinced himself.

As the Guardian says, millions of households are facing a raft of price increases across a range of bills – from energy and water to car tax and the TV licence – that took effect yesterday.

The paper says that with so many costs rising at once – prompting some to label this month “awful April” – the government is facing fresh calls to take action to limit the impact of some of the increases:

The cost of gas and electricity is one of the biggest outlays for most households, and the cap on energy costs, which is set every three months by the industry regulator Ofgem, is going up by 6.4% – or £111 – on Tuesday. That takes the average annual bill to £1,849 for a typical dual-fuel household on a standard variable tariff.

This increase – the third in a row – means households will be paying about £600 a year more for their gas and electricity than before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

About 9 million households that buy their energy through variable tariffs will experience an immediate impact on their bills.

The Lib Dems have published a survey they say shows the “majority of Brits think their energy bill is bad value for money” . The party’s leader, Ed Davey, added that with families facing “spiralling” costs, the government must “get a grip on energy bills, and fast”. The Lib Dems want ministers to implement an energy “social tariff” to protect vulnerable people living in fuel poverty, and also do more to help the millions of pensioners who lost their winter fuel payments last year.

Rising energy costs are putting vital youth services at risk, said Social Investment Business, a charity. It claimed that utility bills were swallowing up half the budgets of some organisations focused on children and young people.

In percentage terms, water bills are receiving some of the biggest increases: an average of 26% – or £123 – for households in England and Wales this year. That price rise takes the annual average bill from £480 to £603. However, the increase will vary significantly depending on the water company. Customers of Southern Water, which covers parts of south-east England including Hampshire and Kent, face a near-47% rise.

Council tax is another big outlay, and the average bill for a typical band D property in England will be £2,280 for 2025-26, which is up 5%, or £109, on the 2024-25 figure. However, several councils were given government permission to raise bills by more than the cap. These include Bradford in West Yorkshire, which is raising bills by 9.99%, and Newham in east London, which is increasing them by 8.99%.

In Scotland most households face a council tax rise of at least 7.5%, while the average band D increase in Wales for this year is 7.2%.

Meanwhile, petrol and diesel car owners will pay £5 more a year in road tax, taking the standard rate cost on post-2017 vehicles to £195 a year.

The annual cost of a colour TV licence will increase by £5 on Tuesday to reach £174.50. And price rises will take effect on or around 1 April for the customers of a number of broadband and mobile phone companies. For broadband customers, the comparison website Uswitch estimated that the increases were poised to add an average of £21.99 annually for those on inflation-linked contracts, and up to £42 a year for those on newer plans taken out after rules were changed in January this year.

On top of all that, personal allowances remain frozen so that more people are paying tax for the first time, while the increase in employers' national insurance is likely to fuel inflation and possible lead to some reducing their workforce.

Things are nowhere near as rosy as my MP would like us to believe.