British Gas, EON and EDF customers can cancel £149 Ofgem price cap rise this week | Personal Finance | Finance
Energy customers with EON and EDF can simply ‘cancel’ this week’s Ofgem energy cap price rise by taking a few minutes to make one change.
On Tuesday, October 1, energy regulator Ofgem decided to increase energy bills for those on the standard variable tariff by 10 percent, adding £149 to the average energy bill, taking the total for anyone on ‘typical use’ from £1,568 to £1,717.
But there is a way you can simply sidestep the energy cap price rise – by getting a fix as soon as possible.
As money expert Martin Lewis has explained, there are several fixed rate energy deals available right now which are cheaper than the price cap, and will guarantee that you will not pay the price cap increase.
Outfox The Market is currently the cheapest, at 9.4 percent cheaper than the October price cap, but EDF, EON and other energy companies are also offering price cap beating deals.
But even if you’re with British Gas, you can make the same saving by switching to Outfox the Market or EDF. If you’re on a standard variable tariff at the moment, you can simply switch without paying any early exit fees.
Martin added: “Outfox The Market is the cheapest fix right now. It is 9.4 percent cheaper than the October price cap on average and 0.8 percent cheaper than what you pay.
“EDF has a tariff which says you can fix now at the current rate. So you simply just don’t get that price rise.
“That’s it you just stop the price rise.
“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.
“But those questions say ‘my company has offered me should I fix? This is not about getting a fix, this is about getting a cheap fix. If you’re gonna lock in a price, you want to lock in the cheapest you can get.”
There is also an EON tariff which promises to stay at 3 percent lower than the price cap, and another which is roughly 6 percent cheaper than the new price cap.
Those wanting to be sure can search for energy deals on a full-market comparison website, such as the Money Saving Expert Cheap Energy Club, which shows all deals available, not just those that have paid to be there like on some price comparison websites.