Martin Lewis explains what the energy price cap rise will mean for you and talks through the options for billpayers looking for lower tariffs. Ofgem has confirmed household energy bills are to rise again from January 1 as it announced a 1.2% increase to its price cap. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00The energy price cap affects 80% of homes in England, Scotland and Wales.
00:04Everyone who's on their energy firm's standard, the default tariff,
00:08is on a price cap tariff. So if you're not sure it's likely to be you,
00:11it's only those who are on a fix or have chosen a special tariff that aren't on the price cap.
00:16And a 1.2% rise, remember, is on top of the 10% rise we've already had in October.
00:21So for every £100 you're paying now, you'll pay £101.20 from 1 January.
00:27Then the prediction is it'll go up again in April, come down a little bit in July,
00:32come down a little bit again in next October.
00:34But even by the end of 2025, if predictions are right,
00:40you're likely to be paying more than you are right now.
00:44So we've already seen a 10% energy bill rise in October.
00:47It's going up by 1.2% in January. It's likely to go up again in April,
00:51come down a little bit in July and a little bit in October.
00:54But you'll still be paying more then than you are now.
00:57Whereas the cheapest fixes on the market are 5% less than current prices.
01:04So if you fix, you can pay less than you are now and get a guarantee for a year
01:09that your rates won't rise. If you stay on the price cap and the predictions are right,
01:14you're going to pay more than you do right now over the next year.
01:17So the no-brainer option is find yourself a cheap fixed deal.
01:22Go into a whole-of-market-by-default comparison site and find what your cheapest fix is.
01:26The only people that doesn't work for, unfortunately, is those on non-smart prepayment meters
01:31because there just aren't any fixes available for them.