gareth thomas

NEWS. ENERGY PRICE CAP TO RISE AGAIN, 6.4% ON 1 APRIL. This follows the 1% rise in Jan and 10% last Oct. Here's my instant briefing (feel free to share) including WHAT TO DO. Lets start with the avg Direct Debit Cap... ELEC Standing charge 53.8p/day (from 60.97p) DOWN 11% Unit rate: 27.03p/KwH (from 24.86p) UP 8.7% GAS Standing charge: 32.67p/day (from 31.65p) UP 3.2% Unit rate: 6.99p/KwH (from 6.34p) UP 10% So for every £100 you pay for energy now, from April people will typically pay roughly £106.40. Yet in reality as the daily standing charge is dropping, some lower users (below £100/mth) will see only small rises, but those who use a lot (above £200/mth) will likely see 7%-10% increases. Those are averages but there is a lot of regional variation in prices (we're already building a calc on MSE to be available later today so you can see the direct impact) with London & NW Wales outliers as there electricity standing charges are rising. HOW TO KNOW IF YOU'RE ON A CAPPED TARIFF If you're not on a fix or special deal you are likely on the Cap. It applies to firms standard default consumer tariffs, often called 'Standard Variable' or 'Flexible' tariffs. If you don't know assume you, like two third of homes probably are. THE PRICE CAP IS A PANTS CAP GET OFF IT IF YOU CAN - FIX NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY The cheapest year-long standalone fixes right now are about 4% LESS than the current Cap, never mind once it rises in April, so if you get a good fix now you lock in at a cheaper rate for a year, get price certainty, save instantly and save relatively more once we get to April. You cheapest fix depends on where you live and how much you use, so do a comparison (the MSE cheapenergyclub.com is whole-of-market-by default) though I'd wait a couple of hours as I hear more tariffs are being launched. Remember though the savings comparison sites will show now are compared to the current cap, they will be bigger compared to April. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER APRIL The current analysts' predictions are once the price rises in April, it will stay at roughly that rate for the next year. Though the further out you go the more crystal ball gazing that is (and the chance of peace in Ukraine, the middle east, or US pumping out oil could see energy prices fall). Still the safe bet based on current predictions is to fix. OTHER OPTIONS THAN FIXING Those with very low usage only (under say £80/mth) should also look at British Gas & EDFs special tracker deals which discount £50 off the annual standing charge (as with low usage thats a bigger proportionate saving) And sophisticated users should look at (or likely already know about) Octopus or Tomato's time of use tariffs). 2.7m MORE TO GET WARM HOME DISCOUNT The govt proposes to expand the £150 Warm Home Discount to expanded to 2.7m more low income households winter 2025/26 (though a chunk of that’ll be eaten up by the cap rise where the 6.4% rise is equivalent to £111/yr on an annualised bill). It’ll be done by getting rid of the ‘high energy cost’ criteria for those on means tested benefits like Universal Credit (which helps working people and non working on low incomes). That’s good as it’s a terribly implemented system which left many, literally, unfairly out in the cold. There’s also a proposal on old energy debt support, which sound good, but needs reading so I’ll leave that for now. MORE TO COME These are my first thoughts, undoubtably more later, the MSE weekly email will have a full run through of top switchable tariffs when its out later today. And join me at 8pm tonight for @itvMLshow when I'll be explaining all this in more detail and putting your questions to the Ofgem boss.

@MartinSLewis Martin, seems like X has merely added community notes to some of those scam posts instead of y'know, actually taking them down. It's not good enough. Is X still taking money from these advertisers? Hope you keep pushing them on this.