Martin Lewis has given his exact advice on what to do about the October price cap rise for energy – and which companies to change to. The financial guru was speaking on Good Morning Britain and highlighted some deals to take advantage of to not be hit in the pocket.
Ofgem’s new energy price cap for October to December comes into effect today. Regulator Ofgem has already announced that the average household energy bill will increase by £149 from October. The price cap will rise by 10% from the current £1,568 for a typical household in England, Scotland and Wales to £1,717.
Mr Lewis said people should switch to the cheapest fixes: “I’m looking at my list on my computer Outfox the Market, E.on OVO, EDF. All of them are roughly priced at the old price gap.
“IE yesterday’s price gap IE without the 10% rise. And not only that, if you go to one of these cheaper fixes you’re locking in so that you’re guaranteed that rate for the next year so you can lock in at a no rise price.
“You won’t get the 10% you can do it for a year. And if you look at what is predicted to happen to energy prices over the next year, well, they’re going up 10% or they’ve gone up 10% today.”
Mr Lewis explained that the January change was likely to be fairly insignificant – about one per cent either way – meaning people taking the fix now are unlikely to lose out by much. He added: “After that, you get a little bit more crystal ball gazing, depending which one you look at. We’re expecting to see it shaved down in April and shaved down again in July but still be substantially more next July to October than it was yesterday.
“So if you’re looking in at yesterday’s price for a year, there is a very, very good bet that you will have cheaper prices for the next 12 months than sticking on the price cap. And you will almost certainly have substantially cheaper prices over the high use winter period. And that is why I’m saying pretty much nobody should be on the price cap if you can help it.”
A social tariff for people who are vulnerable should be introduced to give them automatically cheaper bills, Mr Lewis said. He added: “For everyone who’s capable of going and doing a comparison, use a whole of market comparison service out there. You really shouldn’t be on the price cap right now. You should either fix or you go for a discounted price cap tariff like there’s one from Aeon.”
A think-tank has warned families with children will be worse off than pensioners after the price cap change.
The Resolution Foundation has issued a warning that working-age families are more likely than older people to struggle with their energy bills in the coming months.
A think-tank has warned families with children will be worse off than pensioners after the price cap change.
The Resolution Foundation has issued a warning that working-age families are more likely than older people to struggle with their energy bills in the coming months.
Their research revealed that around 7.7 million households would be at risk of “fuel stress” this winter, meaning they would spend more than 10 per cent of their income on gas and electric bills.
However, the think tank claimed families with children were more than twice as likely as pensioners to be impacted by fuel stress.
