MILLIONS of people have already seen their finances take a hit this year as energy bills spiral and the cost of living soars.

And there are more changes coming in the next 12 months.

Here we explain what's happening and when, as well as what it means for your money.

New Prime Minister announced – September 5

In three days time the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will be hurled into Number 10.

The new PM will assume their official duties on Tuesday, September 6 and it's expected that more bill help will be on the way.

The two wannabe's, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss have both pledged to help those with their energy bills.

Rishi Sunak is promising more immediate help while Liz Truss is focussed on cutting taxes.

Education minister, Will Quince recently told Tom Swarbrick on his LBC radio show that the next Government will put in place a “further package of support measures” to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation announced by Office for National Statistics- September 20

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) will release its latest inflation figures on September 20 – and it could climb even higher.

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There are warnings that inflation could be higher than 20 per cent next year if gas prices keep soaring.

The September release will look at how prices changed for the year to July 2022 compared to prices for the year to July 2021.

Inflation hit double figures in July and has now reached a new 40-year high of 10.1%

Inflation is a measure of how much the price of goods, such as food or televisions, and services, such as haircuts or train tickets, has changed over time.

It is a so-called backward looking measure, which means it indicates what has happened over the past year – it does not predict the future.

The rate of inflation is published each month by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and this measures how much prices have changed on average over the past year.

Bank of England meeting and possible interest rate hike – September 15

There will be a Bank of England meeting on September 15 – and it could spell a possible interest rate hike.

Last In August, the BoE increased the  base rate of interest by 0.5 percentage points to 1.75% – the biggest hike in 27 years.

Economists expect this could increase to as high as 2.25% in September.

Interest rates are being hiked to curb runaway inflation.

Another rate rise could have a significant impact on your finances – especially homeowners.

And anyone on a variable or tracker mortgage will be the first to feel the effects of any increase.

These mortgages are linked to the Bank's base rate – so when it goes up, so do your monthly repayments.

There are around 1.9million homeowners with these mortgages.

Energy price cap comes into force – October 1

Energy bills are set to rocket to £3,549 on average per year, the Ofgem announced at the end of August.

But it will come into affect on October 1.

Those who pay their energy bills by direct debit will see their bills increase by 80% from £1,971 to £3,549.

Those who don't pay for their energy by direct debit will see their bills hiked from £2,100 to £3,764.

Meanwhile those on prepayment meters will see their bills increase by £1,591 as the price cap for these customers moved from £2,017 a year to £3,608 a year.

New energy price cap announced – November 24

On Thursday, November 24, the energy regulator Ofgem will announce what the new price cap will be from January 1.

The latest estimate from energy consultancy Auxilione forecasts that the price cap for next January will go by £620 to £5,012.

The energy price cap limits the maximum energy suppliers can charge customers for each unit of gas and electricity on the standard variable tariff.

But it does not protect customers from wholesale prices.

It's not a cap on how much you can be charged for the energy that you use – so if you use more expect to pay more.

And those on prepayment meters will usually have a higher cap.

New energy price cap comes into force – January 1, 2023

The new price cap announced in November will come into force from January 1, 2023.

In August, Ofgem announced it will be reviewing bill rises every three months as part of a massive shake-up.

This means changes to the price cap will come into force from April 1 and July 1 next year.

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Here's four ways to save up to £2,375 to help cover energy bills this winter.

While hard-up parents can get up to £200 in cash support from their local council to put towards the cost of school uniform.

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