Welcome to the Metro.co.uk money blog, where today we’ll be bringing you Martin Lewis’ tips of the trade to keep your energy bills down.
In only a few days, electricity and gas bills are set to jump by £149 as the energy price cap is increased by the energy regulator, Ofgem.
Of course, though, the Money Saving Expert-turned-guardian-angel is on GMB today revealing how to ‘stop the 10% price hike’, he wrote on X.
Martin explained on the morning breakfast programme that if looking to switch or lock into a tariff, timing is everything. You can read his advice below.
These price hikes will impact millions of electric car drivers, who are being urged to charge their vehicles at home where possible and seek our off-peak tariffs.
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Octopus Energy, meanwhile, has announced that it will deliver 100,000 ‘zero bills’ homes.
Octopus announces 100,000 ‘zero bill’ green homes
Josh MiltonOctopus Energy, the renewable energy group, has vowed to deliver 100,000 ‘zero bill’ homes by 2030.
‘Zero Bills’ is an energy tariff in which new homes are decked out with solar panels, home batteries and other green energy gadgets.
‘If you live in a brand new, specially built Zero Bills home, you’ll not receive an energy bill – no costs, no worries,’ Octopus said in a news release in 2022.
A 130-plot site for the scheme is being built in Bedfordshire.
Shoddy customer services leave millions of energy and broadband customers worse off
Josh Milton
Britain spent some 27.3 million hours last year due to poor customer service from energy and broadband customers, Which? has revealed.
And that has come at a cost – not just emotionally, of course. Customers lost out on £298,000,000
The consumer watchdog surveyed more than 4,000 people to uncover how many people had a customer service issue in the year to May 2024.
A fair few people did, apparently. About 8,900,000 energy consumers and 9,200,000 broadband consumers experienced emotional harm from shoddy customer service.
One in seven gave up trying to resolve a broadband issue because of this, while one in five did so for energy.
Martin Lewis urges people to switch tariffs after price hike kicks in
Josh MiltonA GMB viewer wrote in to ask Lewis if it was the best call to lock in their tariff with Octopus for 15 months right now.
‘What should I do? Bite the bullet and pay the high price hoping that energy will go down or lock myself and mum into this fixed tariff scheme?’
Martin said that as prices swell next week, ‘it’s likely to come down a tiny bit in January but still be a lot more than it is right now’.
‘Wholesale rates going down, the price energy firms pay coming down, means they’re offering cheaper tariffs now than they were a couple of weeks ago,’ he said.
Should I fix my energy tariff?@MartinSLewis explains the energy price cap increase and what you should do if you’re worried about the rise. pic.twitter.com/qkaYxcRir1
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) September 26, 2024
‘Bizarrely, energy prices are going up if you’re on the price cap, but the cheapest rates available if you’re gonna switch are coming down.’
Doing some number-crunching, Martin recommended people use price comparison websites and set it as if they were changing next week when the new cap is in effect.
‘Outfox the Market is the cheapest fixed right now, it is 9.4% cheaper than the October price cap on average,’ he said. If someone swapped to this energy supplier now, they’d only be paying a ‘tiny bit less’ but would make the big saving from next week.
‘EDF has a tariff that says you can fix now on the current rate so you just simply don’t get that price rise. You just don’t get the price rise.’
Welcome to our live blog
Josh MiltonGood morning, and welcome to Metro.co.uk’s money blog – you’ll never guess what it’s about.
On October 1, energy bills will go up by about 10% for most households. Worries about making it through the winter are hanging heavily on many Britons’ minds, so Martin Lewis is on GMB this morning giving advice on how to ‘stop’ the £149 hike altogether.
Motorists are also expected to be impacted by the rising cost of fuel – electricity to be exact. EV drivers will see the daily cost of charging their batteries rocket from £13.41 to £14.70.
While Which? has revealed that energy and broadband customers lost nearly £300 million to poor customer service in the last year.
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