The Peterborough rally on Saturday drew 200 protesters to Cathedral Square, a crowd angry enough to stand in drizzle holding placards reading ‘Heat or Eat.’ The organisers, from Peterborough Against Fuel Poverty, say the average household in the city now pays £1,928 a year for gas and electricity, up from £1,138 in 2021. That is not a spike. That is a structural shift.
As reported by the Peterborough Telegraph, the protest was timed to coincide with Ofgem’s quarterly price cap announcement. The cap fell by 7% in April, but remains 50% above pre-pandemic levels. For a typical 3-bed semi using 12,000 kWh of gas and 2,900 kWh of electricity, that still means £1,928 a year, before standing charges.
Who qualifies, and who doesn’t
The government’s Energy Price Guarantee ended in March 2023. Households on standard variable tariffs now pay the Ofgem cap, which adjusts every three months. The key groups hit hardest: the 1.1 million households on pre-payment meters, who pay more per unit than direct debit customers, and the 6.5 million households in EPC bands D–G, who lose up to 35% of heat through walls and roofs.
Ofgem data published last week shows 2.3 million households have fallen behind on bills since October 2023. The average arrears: £206 for electricity, £168 for gas. The protest in Peterborough is not an outlier. Similar rallies are planned in Norwich, Bristol and Glasgow next month.
But, and this is the point, protesting the price cap is like shouting at a thermometer. The cap reflects wholesale costs, network charges and supplier margins. It does not control any of them. What it does is limit how much suppliers can profit from a given unit. The real lever for homeowners is consumption.
What it costs a typical 3-bed semi
Energy Saving Trust figures show that a semi-detached house in EPC band D (the UK median) uses roughly 15,000 kWh of gas and 3,500 kWh of electricity per year. At current cap rates, 24.5p per kWh for electricity, 6.24p for gas, that comes to about £2,100 annually. Add standing charges (£334 combined) and the total is £2,434.
Upgrading to band C through cavity wall insulation (£2,500–£4,500), loft insulation (£300–£600) and draught-proofing (£200–£400) typically cuts gas use by 20–25%. That is £300–£500 off the annual bill, every year. The Great British Insulation Scheme, launched in 2023, offers free or subsidised insulation for low-income households in bands D–G. Take-up has been slow: only 12,000 homes treated by March 2024, against a target of 300,000.
Heat pumps and solar, the longer game
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays £7,500 towards an air-source heat pump. Installed cost is typically £12,000–£15,000, meaning the homeowner covers £4,500–£7,500. Running costs: roughly £900 a year for a 3-bed semi, versus £1,200 for a gas boiler at current prices. The gap narrows if you add solar panels: a 4 kWp array costs £6,000–£8,000, generates about 3,500 kWh a year, and can cut the heat pump’s grid electricity use by 40–50%.
The catch is upfront capital. Most households cannot write a £15,000 cheque. The government’s low-interest loan scheme for heat pumps, the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4), covers full cost for low-income households, but eligibility is tight. For everyone else, the payback period on a heat pump plus solar is 8–12 years. That is longer than the average homeowner stays in a property (7 years, per ONS data).
What the protest misses, and what it gets right
The Peterborough rally is right to demand more government support. The Energy Price Cap is a blunt instrument. It does not address the root cause: leaky homes and expensive wholesale gas. Campaigners want a social tariff, a discounted rate for low-income households. Ofgem consulted on this in 2023 but has not published a timeline. The Treasury is reportedly resistant, citing cost to the Exchequer.
What the protest misses is that even a social tariff does not fix a house that loses heat through single-glazed windows and an uninsulated loft. The long-term solution is fabric efficiency. The Climate Change Committee estimates that 19 million homes need upgrading by 2035 to meet net zero. At the current rate of 50,000 upgrades a year, that will take 380 years.
Homeowners reading this: you cannot wait for policy. Check your EPC rating on gov.uk. If you are in band D or below, apply for the Great British Insulation Scheme. If you have £5,000–£10,000 to invest, get quotes for a heat pump and solar panels. The payback is real, and the comfort gain is immediate. The Peterborough protesters are right to be angry. But the only person who can fix your fuel bill is you, and your installer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Energy Saving Trust estimates a 20–25% reduction in gas use, saving £300–£500 a year on a typical 3-bed semi. The cost of cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and draught-proofing is typically £3,000–£5,500, giving a payback of 6–12 years.
Yes. The scheme runs until March 2026. It offers free or subsidised insulation for households in EPC bands D–G with a gross income under £31,000, or those receiving certain benefits. Apply through your energy supplier or the gov.uk website.
