Martin Lewis shares easy way you can beat energy price cap riseBBC
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00:00If you haven't sorted your energy bills yet, this is the time to do it, because next week on Tuesday the 1st of April the energy price cap that dictates the rate two-thirds of homes in England, Scotland and Wales pay for their energy bills will rise 6.4%.
00:15And that's the third consecutive rise, it went up 1% in January, it went up 10% in October, which means from April we will be paying 18% more on the price cap than we were last summer.
00:28But perversely, while the price cap is going up, the rate of the cheapest fixes are coming down.
00:34This is because the April price cap isn't about current prices, it's actually based on average wholesale prices from November to February, so there's a time lag.
00:43But the rate of the cheapest fixes is based on current prices that energy firms can buy at now, and they have dropped, so the differential has grown.
00:51The cheapest fix now is around 7% cheaper than the current price cap, that's going to be about 14% cheaper than the price cap once it goes up in April.
01:01Now we don't know exactly what will happen when the price cap moves again in July, but we do have predictions for it, and it's currently thought it will drop again to roughly the same levels as right now.
01:12And then after that for the rest of the year, though the further out you go the more crystal ball gazing it is, it's set to stay roughly the same.
01:19If that's correct, the cheapest fix on the market is 7% cheaper now, 14% cheaper in April, and then 7% cheaper for the rest of the year.
01:27It would be an easy win if the predictions are right, and even if not, well, just focus on the early exit penalties as long as they're not too big.
01:35If the prices were to drop down radically in future in a way we're not expecting, you'd be able to get out easily.
01:41Most important thing, though, is sort it. The price cap is a pants cap.