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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Business
Sam Barker

Energy firms set to reveal secret cheaper deals after Martin Lewis meeting as bills soar

Energy firms are poised to reveal details of their secret deals after crunch talks with MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis.

Brits have been grappling with soaring energy bills, with the average household to pay £2,800 to £3,000 a year from October 2022.

Many energy firms can offer cheaper deals to existing customers than they do to new ones.

But many households are unaware of this, and may have to ask in order to find out.

This lack of clarity makes switching energy provider tricky, as working out the best deal for you can be difficult.

But now energy firm bosses are thinking about publishing all the details of their deals, after a big meeting with MoneySavingExpert this week.

Martin Lewis held talks with big energy firm bosses and charities over energy bills (PA)

MoneySavingExpert said: "Energy suppliers agreed to explore publishing full tariff information for deals that are only available to their existing customers to allow everyone to make an informed choice on the best value tariff available to them and to enable third parties such as MoneySavingExpert to be able to help with this decision."

The meeting this week was attended by Martin Lewis, Ovo, British Gas, Octopus, E.ON, EDF and Shell, as well as charities Citizens Advice, National Energy Action and StepChange.

The aim was to find ways to help struggling customers this winter.

Energy companies did not say they would cut their prices as a result of the meeting.

But they did agree to help customers in other ways.

These include being more transparent about why energy bills are going up or down.

Energy bills are set to hit £3,000 this year (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Energy firms are looking into setting up a priority call line for National Energy Action and StepChange, so that consumers who need energy help the most get it as quickly as possible.

These firms also agreed to set up a single system of collecting debts for customers who cannot afford energy bills, alongside debt charities.

Energy firms will also design a single tool that will tell customers what help is available to them based on their circumstances.

The group will meet again in September 2022, ahead of the planned increase to the energy price cap in October.

Martin Lewis said: "The aim of this meeting was to cut the c**p and get together with the leaders of the big firms, without government or regulators, to work together on the low-hanging fruit. It was a very productive, fast and action-orientated two hours.

“Yet far more is needed, and that must come from a functioning Government.

"This winter will be catastrophic, the hideous spikes in wholesale energy will translate by October into Ofgem setting a price cap for a typical bill of around £3,000 a year – close to four times what some paid just two years go. It will push millions into poverty."

Ovo founder Stephen Fitzpatrick said: "In the energy crisis, energy companies need to be fighting for lower costs and finding new ways to help customers.

"This is going to be a very difficult winter for millions of customers. The problem is so big that we really need more support for vulnerable customers from the Government, but we also need to do everything we can to help as much as possible.

“Getting everyone around the table to find ways to help customers through this was a crucial first step. There is a lot of work to do but this meeting was a good start.”

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