Martin Lewis has issued new advice on whether to fix your energy bills this summer, with prices finally expected to drop next month. The Money Saving Expert founder explained the latest situation on his Martin Lewis Money Show, which returned this week for a pensions special.
Speaking on the ITV show, Mr Lewis said there were currently few options on the market for customers looking to lock in their energy bills at a fixed price, with no open market tariffs currently available and only existing customer deals on the table.
He said customers should therefore consider the upcoming energy price cap in July. Consultancy firm, Cornwall Insight, currently predicts that the typical energy bill will fall to £2,053 equivalent per year - about 17% less than the current £2,500 typical household bills are capped at by the government's energy price guarantee. You can get more story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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The price guarantee, which was introduced last year to protect customers from skyrocketing energy prices, is set to rise to £3,000 soon. This means that the price cap, set by regulator Ofgem, will once again dictate what households pay from July, as that is predicted to be below the government's guarantee.
Mr Lewis said the lack of official information on deals made it difficult to give concrete advice, but he added that, based on current predictions, customers should consider fixing their bills if they can find a deal at the same price or cheaper than the July price cap.
Urging people to remember that next month's forecast decrease in prices was "not set in stone", he said: "If you can get a fix at the July price or less, it might be worth it if you want price certainty."
However, Mr Lewis warned that few deals were currently available to do so, citing a So Energy/USwitch one-year fix being sent to some customers that was 1.3% under the July cap and an Ovo/SSE deal that was 7% more than July, as well as British Gas and E.on offers that were available to very few customers.
Mr Lewis also said current predictions by Cornwall Insight showed the energy price cap falling another 7% in October, before rising slightly by 1% in January. But he insisted this was "crystal ball gazing" and that long-term predictions were difficult. To get all the latest money-saving news straight to your inbox twice a week, sign up here.
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