Households might be in for an even bigger shock than expected this winter as energy bills are set to climb to three times what they were at the start of the year.

The bleak outlook foresees the average household’s energy bill hitting about £500 in January alone.

BFY Group, a utilities consultancy, says it expects the cap on bills to reach £3,850 between January and April next year – hundreds of pounds more than prior predictions.

The latest forecast comes after the Kremlin further strangled the flow of gas to Europe.

While the UK gets very little of its gas directly from Russia, the price paid here is determined by what happens across the Continent.

“Following further rises in wholesale prices as flows of gas from Russia to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline drop to 20% of capacity, we now forecast the Ofgem price cap to rise to £3,420 in the fourth quarter of 2022 and £3,850 in the first quarter of 2023,” Dr Gemma Berwick, a senior consultant at BFY Group said.

“This will make the average household bill over £500 for January alone.”

If the predictions come to pass they will put enormous pressure on already squeezed households.

It would be a near-doubling of today’s record price cap which at £1,971 is already hundreds of pounds more than the previous high.

Cornwall Insight, another consultancy, had predicted a £3,364 January price cap just three weeks ago but circumstances have changed significantly since then.

BFY now believes Ofgem will have to set the earlier October price cap change at £3,420, with another increase expected when the cap is reviewed in January.

The cap used to be updated twice a year, but recent changes mean that there will be a new price cap every three months going forward. It is based on the average cost of energy in the previous months.

The forecasts are based on what an average household will spend on gas and electricity in a year. A household that buys more energy will see higher bills, and vice versa.

The new predictions are bleak, and will put further pressure on households already facing rising food costs amid the cost-of-living crisis.

In April energy bills rose 54% for the average household.