British Gas, EON, EDF and Octopus Energy customers issued 30-day warning to save £640
Customers of major energy firms British Gas, EDF, EOn and Octopus among others have just 30 days to slash more than £640 off bills
British Gas customers, as well as those with EON, EDF and Octopus Energy or OVO are being told they have just 30 days to slash more than £640 off their energy bills.
Energy price regulator Ofgem, which sets the price of gas and electricity for UK households, recently announced a price cap change coming into effect on July 1.
This cap will reduce bills by an average of £122, but the catch is that it only applies to the standard variable tariff, i.e. those who are not currently on a fix.
And the worse news is that the standard variable tariff is due to increase by 12 percent, or £188, on October 1.
So the best thing to do according to energy experts is to grab a cheap deal now before the next price cap change. The price cap for gas and electricity does not apply to fixed rate tariffs and this summer marks the first time in three years that cheaper fix deals are worth switching to.
Ofgem recently announced its price cap rate for July, setting bills at £1,568 for the average household, a drop of £506 less than one year ago and £122 less than April.
But, you need to act fast to secure a fixed deal because energy bills are due to rise again in October, by a whopping 12 percent, so if you don’t lock in the price you could face increases again and the cheapest fixes are unlikely to stay cheap as we near the next price cap change.
The most eyecatching deal on the market right now - Ecotricity - offers 9 percent off bills. Taken together with the £506 saving year-on-year, that’s a very handy £647 off your gas and electricity bills.
Even less significant deals like Octopus offers a 7 percent lower than price cap fix, while Ovo Energy is offering 5 percent lower than the price cap, all of which will save you money come October.
Les Roberts, Business Energy Comparison Expert at Bionic, said: “If you do find a deal with rates below the new price cap rates, then it could be worth considering making the switch as we don’t know what will happen to energy prices in the future. However, it's important to remember that price-capped tariffs change every 3 months in line with the Price Cap so a deal that looks good now could end up being more expensive if energy prices drop later in the year.”
Previously, Martin Lewis explained that the new prediction is for bills to increase again from October so this price cut is 'the last we'll see for a while', so it absolutely makes sense to fix now.
