Money-saving guru Martin Lewis has addressed the upcoming hike in energy prices set to hit in just four days, highlighting a vital tip to sidestep the impending 10% increase. The energy price cap for customers, which Ofgem is adjusting from October 1, is forecasted to push average household bills up by £149.
The watchdog Ofgem has already confirmed that typical domestic energy bills will see an uptick of £149 starting October. This change will escalate the current cap from £1,568 to £1,717 for the average home in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Taking to ‘Good Morning Britain’ this morning, financial wizard Mr Lewis pointed out that although wholesale rates are actually dipping, with energy providers rolling out more cost-effective tariffs than those seen mere weeks back. He said that if consumers stick with the rate set by the price cap, they’ll face increased costs yet, by switching, they could negate nearly the full 10% rise.
Chatting with presenter Susanna Reid, he clarified: “So as we’ve just seen, energy is going up. It’s not coming down. It’s going up on the first of October. It’s likely to come down a tiny bit in January, but it will be a lot more than it is right now.”
“Now these wholesale rates coming down, the price energy firms pay coming down means they’re offering cheaper tariffs now than they were a couple of weeks ago. So bizarrely energy prices are going up if you’re on the price cap. But the cheapest rates available if you’re going to switch, are coming down.”
He recommended that people should use a comparison site to find the best energy deal, highlighting: “Outfox The market is the cheapest fix. Right now it is 9.4% cheaper than the October price cap on average. So on the new price cap and 0.8% cheaper than what you’re paying. So you could drop a tiny bit now, But from next week, you’re going to be paying 9.8 per cent less than the new price cap.”
“EDF has a that basically says you can fix now at the current rate. So you just simply don’t get that price, right? That’s it. You just don’t stop the price rise. So you’re asking me, should I fix? “.
“I would say for the vast majority of people who are risk averse and don’t want to see prices going up, fixing now is the safe option.”
“This is not about getting a fix. This is about getting a cheap fix. If you’re going to lock in a price, you want to lock in on the cheapest fix you can get. So if I just run through. I mean head and shoulders above the road. It’s outfox. The market and EDF are substantially cheaper than any others than the Octopus 15 months fix that you talked about is 7% below the October price.”
In a related development last month, Labour’s energy consumers minister Miatta Fahnbulleh engaged in discussions with suppliers including Octopus, seeking assistance with a marketing campaign to inform customers about available support for their bills.
Insiders have revealed that ministers have also been inquiring with companies about long-term market reforms for energy bills, including a social tariff, an idea that has been proposed by campaign groups for several years.
This measure would likely manifest as a targeted discount energy deal for less affluent customers, potentially being priced below the cheapest available standard energy tariff.