Martin Lewis has issued guidance for prepayment meter energy customers amid Ofgem's price cap drop announcement.
The regulator announced it is cutting its price cap from £3,280 to £2,074 from July 1, marking the first time consumers on default tariffs have seen their prices fall since the global gas crisis took hold more than 18 months ago. Ofgem’s latest cut means its cap will again govern household bills, instead of the Energy Price Guarantee introduced by the government which is set to rise to £3,000 in the summer, resulting in a reduction of £426 from £2,500 to £2,074 – a fall of about 17 per cent.
Money-saving expert Martin spoke to viewers on Good Morning Britain on Thursday (May 25) to clarify how the price drop will affect them. He highlighted that while all energy customers will see a drop of around 17 per cent, prepayment customers may see an even bigger drop.
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It comes after the government confirmed that prepayment meter prices will be brought down to be more in-line with direct debit costs. According to the government, this could save customers an average of £45.
Explaining what the drop for prepayment customers could look like, Mr Lewis said: "Prepayments are currently more expensive, so to bring it down to direct debit, it will have to be bigger than a 17 per cent average drop. My guess is it will be about a 19 per cent drop.
"So you're paying £60 currently, from July, you will be paying around £48 on the same usage - roughly."
He also issued a useful tip for prepayment customers to guarantee they are paying the cheapest price for the energy they use, urging them to take his advice before the new price cap comes in this July.
He told viewers: "If you have a non-smart electricity prepayment meter...because the rate you pay is generally dictated on the rate when you top up, you will want to run down your usage in June. So you don't put any more in June, then you will want to top up on the 1st of July which will change to the new lower prices and then you won't have paid extra rates in June for the usage you're putting in July."
Mr Lewis stressed that you just need to monitor your usage so that it's just near the bottom and you're only paying for the usage you need throughout June before doing a 'proper' top-up in July.
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